Moon on the Water
by Dreaming I'm Latios
Summary: Deciding what to evolve into is hard, but for an eevee of the Eon tribe a lot more is at stake. Tasked to repair his father's damages to his once superior family name, Kieren receives the help from "The Gaurdian". But what happens when things don't go according to plan? Adventure. Will he stay with old friends? Or find a new life? Rated T for language and ER inducing events.
1. 1) Letter by Fox

**Author's Note:**

 **Welcome readers to my main FF work: Moon on the Water. I haven't finished this story yet, but the first arc is complete and metastable (has some closure). None of these chapters are final however, as I am continuously improving the whole story at once. This story is very dialogue heavy and rich in subtle foreshadowing. Unlike other stories you may have read, don't be afraid of overthinking this one.**

 **Each summer I upload a chapter on a regular schedule with the possibility of an EXTRA CHAPTER for each upload based on the feedback I receive. This feedback can be in the forms of criticism, predictions, and/or submissions and can come via reviews or PMs. Criticism can be as simple as telling me you thought a particular line or moment was funny, or very elaborate and constructive. Predictions clue me in on how well I do foreshadowing (plus they are fun reading). As for submissions, you can find the current ones on my profile page. (At the time of updating this, an event submission is active.) However, I do not count feedback that ultimately only tells me if you like the story or not without telling me why. While I appreciate the positivity in these reviews, they don't help me** ** _improve_** **the story.**

 **For feedback on earlier chapters and feedback outside of summer, I will update the chapter of your choice with my latest rendition. You can even specify a delayed time (like in May when I go through and polish up the story again before the summer uploads start). If you don't specify, I will update the chapter following the one reviewed as soon as I have time. For practical purposes, I'm limiting this to one chapter per reader per week. Additional feedback on all chapters gets applied to a surprise goal!**

 **Ultimately, as long as I know people are reading and enjoying, I'll keep writing!**

 **This chapter was updated on 9/7/2016 and currently stands at 600+ words.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon, just dream it.**

* * *

Chapter 1: Letter by Fox

The sun rose over the valley, waking the lone eevee sleeping on a stump shaded by the tall branches of the surrounding forest trees. Any other time of year Kieran would have been sleeping in his cove with his parents. However, the summer weather was too nice to not sleep out in the open underneath the canopy of trees and stars. The young eevee stretched his muscles, releasing the stiffness of sleep from his tendons as he stood himself on his four stubby legs. He was a typical seventeen-year-old eevee near maturation, his muscles stable and developed. With those muscles he sprung from the stump and trotted off to a nearby oran tree decorated with its signature blue berries, as perfectly ripe as they'd ever be, or at least in Kieren's opinion they were. He decided the berries were a perfect breakfast meal and so he scaled up the tree and onto one of the branches. He was nearing towards the fruit with ease. His original plan was to knock some of the fruit down, but he determined that it would be more pleasant to eat from his perch overlooking the valley during the last few minutes of a beautiful sunrise. Thoughts about the day's potential adventures crossed his mind, but soon he was distracted by a faint object approaching him below.

"Kieren! Are you there?" yelled the figure that had now come clear into view.

"Up here," Kieren replied, jumping down to greet the six-tailed fox. "What brings you here, Melody?"

"I have a letter for you today," the vulpix replied with her morning cheer. She reached into the brown satchel she carried and pulled out an envelope, which she handed to Kieren.

Kieren ripped opened the envelope and pulled out a piece of paper. He unfolded it and stared at it, and after a moment of silence, he flipped the paper upside down. He paused again before rotating it several more times. Melody watched him inquisitively.

"Don't know how to read, do ya?" she evoked.

Kieren shook his head.

"That's ok. I had to write down the message myself. It's from Celestia."

The name surprised Kieren. What would the Eon pack's leader want in sending a letter to him?

"Well what does it say?" Kieren asked confoundedly, handing the letter back to Melody and rearranging his figure to view the letter as Melody read.

Melody paid little notice to Kieren's pointless antics as she began to read for him. "It reads,

To dear Kieren, eevee of the Eon tribe,

You have reached the time in your life where your maturity outmatches your strength. Because of this, you shall advance to your next stage in life in our Evelescence Ceremony tonight at dusk. Because of your family heritage and your past endeavors to the tribe, you will be granted final honors in the ceremony. You have until then to choose an element of fire, sea, or thunder that suits you. We look forward to your decision tonight.

Celestia,

Jolteon Eon Alpha."

"Congrats, Kieren!" Melody exclaimed.

"…"

"…"

"…"

"Kieren?" she asked.

"…"

"Is something wrong, Kieren?" Melody tried, her voice and expression now void of excitement and replaced with genuine concern.

Kieren slunked his head with a nod as he turned away.

"I don't know what I want to be," he finally confessed, turning back towards his friend while gazing at the ground near his feet.

Melody's face sobered. She knew past ceremonies did not go well with undecided eevee. Now her best friend was threatened by that fate. He needed to make up his mind, fast!

* * *

 **Author's Note:** **Well I hope you enjoyed the first chapter! The first 10 chapters are really short, but afterwards they got a lot longer as the plotlines branch out a bit. Don't forget to leave a review if you want higher quality chapters! I'm pretty busy with college and running a video game development club, but I'm always listening to your feedback and am willing to answer any questions you might have! Best of luck this year! ~Dreaming I'm Latios**


	2. 2) Eon Valley Ways

**Author's Note:**

 **Well I wasn't kidding when I said I would upload two chapters a week if I got at least one review, and that included this week. This chapter is also short, but I promise you they won't all be like this. This chapter introduces my dialogue-heavy writing style. Personally, I like this chapter more than the last one, but let me know what you guys think.**

 **Today is still 5/30/2015 and the chapter is another shortie: 800+ words.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon, just dream it.**

* * *

Chapter 2: Eon Valley Ways

"What makes it so hard to decide?" the red fox asked, her face crestfallen with worry. She and Kieren were trudging along with no particular destination other than where the worn forest trail would lead them.

"Well, none of the evolutions really appeal to me," Keiren answered, tossing a pine cone to the side with his paw.

"Not a one? Don't you want to be stronger?" Melody asked, facing him.

"Not if a new form doesn't match my character," said Kieren. He returned his gaze to the ground slowly passing beneath him.

"What do you mean? You're fast. Wouldn't that make you want to be a jolteon?"

"Jolteon is too prestigious and ambitious. I'm too relaxed."

Melody could detect the lie in Kieren's voice. His real reason for disliking jolteon was likely very personal. Perhaps it had something to do with his father? Recognizing the bitter consequences had she called his bluff, Melody let Kieren slide this one time.

"What about flareon?" Melody asked.

"Are you kidding? I'm no hothead," Kieren scoffed.

"Hey! Neither am I," Melody shot.

"I'm not talking about you. Your kind is that mystical kind of fire type. Flareons aren't even close to that kind of collectedness."

"Collectedness. I kinda like that word," Melody muttered, nearly falling into a dreamy trance. She quickly broke free of the thought. "No matter. Since you're so laid-back, what about vaporeon?"

"Too artsy."

"Hmm," Melody exhaled as she thought. She didn't like to admit it, but Kieren was right. Vulpix and ninetails were lucky. They didn't have to choose who they were when they evolved. Instead they could groom themselves in ways that matched their personality. First impressions weren't judged nearly as heavily based on their species. Eevee forms didn't have such luxuries. They had one chance to determine who they were and were stuck with that decision their entire life. But that was the trade-off for being able to evolve into different types. The Eon clan was powerful and well organized. They ruled the land they lived in, the Eon Valley Reserve, which had been dedicated to their ancestors after the fall of a massive human crime organization. Only the Lapras of the Lake actually remember the story, but the Eon tribe still celebrated its heritage. "Perhaps maybe the lapras would know what to do?" Melody thought to herself, but first she needed to know more about the traditions and what Kieren knew.

"Hey Kieren?"

Kieren snapped out of his deep pondering and turned his attention towards his best friend.

"Yea?"

"The letter Celestia sent you mentioned something about family heritage. What was that about?"

Kieren hadn't really thought much about it. If anything, being of such honor was more of a mocking and was only going to make the ceremony worse when he couldn't decide what to evolve into.

"I am from the lunar family line, one of the founding families of the tribe," he spoke humbly.

Melody gasped at him with awe. Why hadn't he told her this before?

"Wow! Kieren! I never knew you were part of such an important heritage. That is so incredible. So does that mean you're related to Celestia?"

Kieren snorted. "Celestia is from the solar family line, so no."

"Oh?" Melody asked somewhat confused. She should have known the system wouldn't be so simple. She was about to ask about it but Kieren told her first.

"The lunar family and the solar family were the original founders of our tribe. They were the descendants of very powerful eevee forms raised by a champion trainer. No one knows what forms they took on. They're kinda mysterious."

"Wow. So how did the solar family outrule the lunar family?"

Kieren perked up by her statement. "Who told you that?"

"Pardon my assumption. So how did Celestia become the leader?"

"Oh." Kieren responded, falling back into a slouch. The conversation was headed towards a touchy subject, but Kieren knew he had to tell Melody sometime. He sighed. "Melody, Celestia isn't the only alpha leader."

"Wait! What?" Melody asked. No one had ever told her this important detail. There were other leaders to the Eon tribe?

"There have always been two leaders to our tribe. One is Celestia from the solar family line."

"Then who is the other?" Melody asked, allowing her curiosity to get the best of her.

"My father, from the lunar family line," Kieren admitted solemnly. He looked up to see a very bewildered Melody, her tails split and nearly uncurled. He decided to continue explaining, whether she was listening or not. "My father isn't a strong enough leader for his job. That's why he isn't respected very highly. Celestia split his responsibilities among his different officers, the external affairs officers. One day I'm supposed to inherit all of those roles, but that will be hard to do if I'm not comfortable with myself." He looked at his friend, wondering if she had listened.

"That's quite a story," she told him, much to his comfort knowing she had. Melody didn't know what else to say. It was an unusual feeling for her since vulpix and ninetails were very learned creatures. Yet she couldn't help but stand silently and sort through what this new information meant. She knew Kieren did not have a very good relationship with his father. Kieren still suffered nightmares from the incident his father caused, and it all made more sense knowing that Kieren's father was in a position of power when it all started.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a loud rumbling noise. Kieren, unfamiliar with the noise scrambled up the nearest tree, but Melody knew the sound.

Humans.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** **Don't worry! This isn't one of those "all humans are bad" stories. The next chapter is rather anti-climatic. Another heads up, the first 10 chapters are all relatively short compared to the ones after that. I'm currently writing Chapter 24, and so far it is already longer than the first two chapters combined. Don't forget to review and tell me your favorite tidbit! ~Dreaming I'm Latios**


	3. 3) Wait! You Talk?

**Author's Note:**

 **This chapter introduces one of two details in the story that come off to some readers as a cliché cop-out to good story development. I will inform you right now that this is not the case and that there is a real logical explanation for both these details that will come much later in the story. And by much later, I mean it could be a year or more from the time I'm posting this to the time I will actually reveal them. So just enjoy the wackiness for now. That's why this is labeled "adventure".  
**

 **Today is 6/6/2015 and this chapter is 700+ words.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon, just dream it.**

* * *

Chapter 3: Wait! You Talk?

Kieren stared with uncertainty at the figure making the loud rumbling noise.

"What is that noise?" Kieren screeched towards his friend down below.

"It's just a motor, Kieren," Melody answered over the noise. "A human machine for fast transportation of whatever or whoever."

As the noise approached, she could distinguish a white object. It had four wheels attached to the base and four poles lifting a white material several feet higher. There was a human sitting in the middle of its frame holding onto some circular device attached to the vehicle. It wasn't a car, Melody figured. She knew what a car was and this was different, but familiar. She had seen some like it before on the green plains marked with flags near the city. She recalled the address - 256 Coastwood Drive, Eon Cityside Country Club - whatever a country club was.

The vehicle slowed to a halt next to Melody. Kieren was about to scream but realized Melody was not panicking. She had been around humans much more than he had and probably knew what she was doing. He then focused on the young man in the strange super-transporter. The man was holding what appeared to be a map. At least that was something he was familiar with. The man scratched his head and studied the map, then glanced over at a piece of paper he held in one hand.

"163D Lakeside, Eon Valley Reserve. Well I don't see a house in sight. There's no homes on this map either." The man was clearly lost. "How am I supposed to deliver these stones tonight if no one can give me the right directions?" asked the frustrated man.

"Stones?" Melody thought. Her eyes darted around until she caught sight of two bins full of evolution stones in the back of the vehicle. "The ceremony!" She had completely forgotten about this man's expected arrival.

"163 degrees clockwise around the lake from the pier. You will see a sign marking where the stones should be placed as well as a ninetails for your aid."

"Why thank you miss," the man said. He turned to look for the girl, but did not find her. "Miss?"

"I'm right here," said Melody, catching the wandering eyes of the confused human.

"Wait! You talk?" the man asked stupefied.

Yes. Melody could speak to humans, as well as read and write. In fact her whole family could, although her younger brother was still learning. It was a family trait that had proved very useful to the Eon tribe, and so the tribe invited them to live in and help manage the reserve. Melody's father handled the reserve's finances, since the reserve also doubled as a business. The Eon tribe was very good at producing natural, highly sought-after medicines, as well as other goods the eevee forms took interest in. They exchanged these goods for human commodities: blankets, grinding mills that could be powered by electric types like jolteon, charcoal, and even the evolutionary stones that were now being delivered. The Lapras of the Lake believed one day the reserve would become a pokemon city. Melody had always wondered how a pokemon city would compare to Eon City. Would it have skyscrapers? Her mother had been to the top floors of Eon City's skyscrapers. She was the negotiator, the sales director, the one in charge of carrying out the transactions. Melody was the messenger. Because she could read and write, she never had to memorize the messages she delivered throughout the reserve, and she also delivered messages and transaction documentation between various business clients. She enjoyed her job. It had allowed her to see much of the local world outside the reserve. Her dream was to one day drive a truck that could carry goods and take her to even greater places.

"Well do you mind hopping in and showing me the way?" the man in the vehicle asked with a genuine friendly smile.

"Sure thing," said Melody. She ran around the vehicle and leaped into a seat next to the man.

"There she goes," Kieren sighed from the tree as the vehicle moved onwards into the forest. It was time to find Celestia's daughter, Katherine.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** **The stones arrived, and time is running out. Will Katherine hold the answers to Kieren's dilemma? Remember to review and tell me your favorite part (so I know to include more of that sort of thing) or a change you would like to see (because I'm not afraid to make changes and corrections)! Also remember that one review get's you one more chapter this week. The review can be short or long, guest or member, public or private (PM), does not matter. All that matters is that you post something less generic than "You're a good writer!", "This is a great story so far!", or "This story sucks." Keep enjoying your summer! ~Dreaming I'm Latios**


	4. 4) Uncertain Futures

**Author's Note:**

 **Sorry for uploading this at such an awkward time at night. I've been struggling to get chapter 24 into a manageable state so I don't have the tendency to scrap it when I review it later. Anyways, I'm still not sure if I'm 100% happy with this chapter. I struggled a lot to find that "magic aliveness" I strive for in my writing. There's a lot of important foreshadowing in this chapter, and it was really hard for me to describe the characters without spoiling anything important. I would definitely appreciate any feedback on this.**

 **Today is 6/7/2015 (sorry) and this chapter is 600+ words.**

* * *

Chapter 4: Uncertain Futures

Katherine, often known as simply "Kat", was another of Kieren's best friends. Although they were the same age, Kat was somewhat of an outcast since she dropped out of training several years ago. She had very little motivation to become strong, as her older brother Solano - a jolteon like Celestia - was to be Celestia's successor.

Kieren didn't have to look very long to find her. She was at her favorite spot by the lake making decorations for the ceremony - quite predictable for her character. He caught a glimpse of her reserved figure underneath a mossy cliff that protected her from the wind, yet caught the sunlight bouncing off the lake.

"Hey, Kat," said Kieren upon entering the shallow shelter. He tossed her a branch spotted with newly ripened oran berries. "I brought you lunch."

"Thanks," Kat expressed. "Congratulations by the way," she added as she ripped off a berry from Kieren's branch. "I hope the ceremony goes well."

"Did your mother tell you?" Kieren asked.

"More like I overheard when I went to look at the decorations list."

"Yep. Still not talking," Kieren thought to himself. He glanced over to the nearby pier just to make sure Celestia wasn't around. She wasn't.

"Are you participating too?" Kieren asked.

"Nope, and I don't plan to anytime soon."

Kieren's face dropped with disappointment, despite the fact he had correctly guessed what her response would be.

"So what element are you becoming?" Kat turned and asked excitedly.

Kieren shrugged.

"Do you even want to be an element?" Kat inquired, her pitch rising to express her misperception of the situation.

"Well, I want to be something, but none of the elements really appeal to me," Kieren confessed.

"You shouldn't have tried," Kat sassed. She swept her head to the side for emphasis.

"I'm not following my father's poor example!" Kieren scowled. Kat's expression grew serious as she recognized Kieren's dilemma. An awkward moment of silence followed.

As an attempt to calm himself, Kieren gazed around at his surroundings. The walls and ceiling were well lit by the reflected sun, displaying the iconic rocky mixture of red, brown, and silver. In the shadows of the right wall protruded a white, puffy mixture of material. Kieren wasn't sure if it was marble or a white moss. He glanced back at Kat.

"You know, Kieren, it's not like I don't want to evolve either, "Kat began. Kieren raised an eyebrow. "But I've always wanted to be something unique," Kat finally muttered, "something no one else is. I'm staying the way I am until I am one hundred percent certain I can become that."

Kieren began to ponder what Kat could possibly become, but she didn't let his thoughts travel far.

"Don't worry about what is going to make you the strongest, make your decision based on what will make you the happiest," she told him firmly.

Kieren thought about it. Was that really what he was pursuing, strength? If that was his only criteria, then he would have made his decision. However, there were other factors, factors that harassed and tormented the eevee from any clear conclusion. Kat's opinion wasn't just good advice, but was really Kieren's only option. Only problem was, Kieren wasn't ready. He pondered over and over what would truly make him happy, but was ripped from his thoughts by a desperate cry across the lake.

"Poachers! Poachers! Everyone gather for defense!" Kieren's ears perked in instant alarm. He glanced at Kat and saw she had copied his very movements, her face a completely new tone of apprehension staring back into his eyes. As if by instinct, the two eevee darted off without another word.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** **Well there it is, the toughest 600 word chapter I think I will ever have to write (hopefully). Please let me know if it's up to par with the other three! By the way, did anyone predict a curve ball coming at the end of this chapter? I really think you will enjoy the upcoming chapters. I really do. Don't forget to review this and the next chapter, because you definitely will not want to wait for chapter 6 after reading chapter 5!**

 **Also I have an extra incentive for you. If for some reason you decide to blow me away with extra helpful reviews, there's a chance I will dedicate an extra day biweekly towards writing more Moon on the Water. For every chapter I finish on those days, I will post an extra chapter for you. And there's no shame in going back to review previous chapters if you want to point out a favorite sentence or two. Sorry for the long author's note. Enjoy the summer. And if your jolteon wakes you up all excited to go outside, stay dry! ~Dreaming I'm Latios**


	5. 5) A Hole to be Filled

**Author's Note:**

 **On June 26-28, I will be going back to Brookings to meet up with my college friends and participate in a weekend game jam. We did this last year, and it turned out to be a lot of fun, so we're trying it again. However, that means that my upload schedule is going to be corrupted. So for that weekend I will upload the chapter the previous Monday, and the possible bonus chapter will be uploaded the last Tuesday of the month.  
**

 **Also, I realized I haven't mentioned something for you to keep an eye out for in this story. I first started writing this story in boring 3rd person, but when I realized I didn't have that "aliveness" I strive for, I considered switching to first person. However, I then came up with the narration idea I'm using now. It isn't just a writing style. There's a much bigger significance to it. I doubt you''l figure it out any time soon, but I thought I would at least make you aware it exists.**

 **Now for the chapter I'm sure you were all waiting for!**

 **Today is 6/13/2015 and this chapter is 600+ words.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon, just dream it.**

* * *

Chapter 5: A Hole to be Filled

Kieren and Kat raced to the scene, hind legs kicking front legs between each stretch for covered ground. They took a side route, climbing up the ramp of a cliff overlooking the battlefield per tribe policies for eevee in such situations. By the time the two reached their post, the battle was already raging full-force.

An arbok was being hurled by a torrential blast of water on top of a yelping mightyena, who noticed its fate too late. A second mightyena was blindsided by the arbok's tail.

"Arbok and two mightyena down!" called one of the watching eevee on a lower bank to the right of Kieren.

Three more mightyena were attempting to dodge a barrage of flamethrowers and thunderbolts while a second arbok attempted to coil around a jolteon. Big mistake. A sixth mightyena was struggling under the power of a thunderbolt from several jolteon. It managed to endure the entire attack, but didn't account for Celestia's son Solano, who violently rammed the mightyena against a tree, knocking it out. Behind the battle were three humans, unmistakably the poachers with their all-black dress and hats that concealed their faces. Despite losing and now having to return their defeated pokemon to their pokeballs, they showed no signs of panic nor care for their actions. The evolved Eon pack members gathered around the poachers, snarling and displaying their fangs and elemental energy. One of the poachers returned the pack's gesture with a sketchy smile.

The tallest of the poachers standing in the middle of the three reached for his side. Moments later a large white flash invaded the dense Eon pack causing several members to retreat. From the flash emerged a large, blue, futuristic-robot-like creature with four legs. The legs protruded from its body like an arthropod, and two intersecting lines were mounted on its face.

"Metagross!" it roared as a battle cry.

A vaporeon stepped forward and fired a swirling hydro pump at the creature, but the stream of water suddenly turned around midway to its target and slammed the vaporeon against a rock next to the shoreline. A couple of shaky glances diffused across the battlers. Several brave ones attempted to pounce on the metagross. Kieren looked on with shock as they stopped still in midair helplessly flailing their limbs.

"Psychic!" was what the poacher had shouted.

"This metagross-thing must be a psychic type," Kieren reasoned. He watched as his tribemates were flung into the surrounding trees by the psychic energy. More tribe members tried shooting down the metagross, but had to resort to shooting down their own attacks due to the immense psychic power it weilded. The remaining pack members began retreating.

"Now let's break up this bunch," the central poacher suggested. "Metagross! Flash Cannon!"

The metagross's face marking glowed a bright white before a beam of light blasted out at the pack. The Eon pack members in the beam's path successfully sprang out of the way, and to the poachers' surprise, the pack quickly and efficiently realigned itself into a single group.

"That was Flash Cannon. It must be a steel type!" a jolteon shouted.

Kieren grinned. No normal attack was going to slow down his tribe. He quickly shot a peak back for any ambush attempt. All clear.

"What do you say we do now?" asked one of the poachers. The voice sounded feminine.

"We wait for them to strike first," answered the poacher commanding the metagross.

"Perfect!" Kieren thought. Now the tribe actually had time to formulate a plan to stop that psychic beast! From his left he could see Celestia approaching the edge of another cliff slightly taller than the one he and Kat were on.

"Salvio!" Celestia shouted. Salvio was the Officer of Defense.

"Salvio is wounded!" a Vaporeon shouted back.

"Not good," Kieren thought, worriedly anticipating the worst.

"Boran!" Celestia called in earnest.

"Shit!" Kieren mumbled to himself, "If it's up to my father, WE'RE SCREWED!"

* * *

 **Author's Note:** **Since I'm pretty confident you want the next chapter, let me know if my pacing of the battle was good, considering Kieren's minor role in the event. Enjoy your awesome summer and the E3 hype (if you're into that)! ~Dreaming I'm Latios**


	6. 6) Rebellious Ambitions

**Author's Note:**

 **Another weekend, another chapter. Next weekend is the game jam, so depending on whether or not we get the bonus chapter this weekend will decide whether or not I'll upload next week's chapter before or after the event.**

 **Today is 6/20/2015 and this chapter is 600+ words. They'll get longer. I promise. (And that's a promise I can keep because I already wrote them.)**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon, just dream it.**

* * *

Chapter 6: Rebellious Ambitions

Kieren did not have much hope in his father, who was now tasked to come up with a desperate strategy in a crucial moment of the Eon tribe's survival. Boran was weak. He cared more about his love life than his job. If there was ever a moment where he could redeem himself, this was it. And for that same reason Kieren knew very well Boran would fail; in fact, Boran wouldn't even try to fight and instead do what the poachers wanted them to do, scatter.

"What do you suggest?" Celestia asked while Boran approached on the cliff. Kieren could hear their entire conversation clearly.

"We have no defenses against such an opponent," Boran admitted. "We must retreat 'n' hide and hope for the best."

"DAMN YOU! FATHER!" Kieren shouted, enraged that his father had followed his prediction. "That's exactly what the poachers want us to do!"

Celestia shot Kieren a surprised glance before returning her focus to the unstirred jolteon in front of her.

"He's right," said Celestia firmly to Boran. "I'll handle this myself." Celestia then barked orders to the rest of the tribe. Kieren stopped listening and turned back to the battle. It was still at a standoff.

"Go!" cried Celestia. Six vaporeon and two jolteon jumped into the air at the metagross, but were caught midair by the psychic power.

"Now!" Celestia roared. At that moment, the entire pack fired thunderbolts, flamethrowers, and hydro pumps at the metagross. The metagross quickly threw the jolteon and vaporeon with psychic energy and built up a light screen upon the poacher's orders. The light screen bravely deflected the barrage of attacks, but it demanded the metagross's full efforts.

Suddenly Kieren saw a bright light from the corner of his eye. Flames spiraled through the air and struck the metagross from behind its defenses.

Holding the light screen against so many attacks was hard enough. Doing so while being ambushed by super-effective fire unguarded was too much for the metagross, and the attacks of the eon tribe shattered the barrier resulting in a big explosion. Smoke flew into the air. Dust scattered throughout the forest floor whipping up leaves and twigs. Kieren turned to trace the source of the attack, a white vehicle.

"Kieren!" Melody shouted from the roof of the vehicle. She jumped off once the vehicle slowed and ran towards the eevee. "Did it work?"

"I think so," Kieren answered. They looked downwards at the battlefield as the smoke and dust cleared. Metagross was out cold.

"Yes!" said Melody, snapping her tails about in excitement, quite proud of her successful flamethrower.

The tribe wasn't finished with business. There were still three poachers standing in their territory.

"Eh… I think we should get out of here," stuttered the female poacher in reaction to the scowls of the Eon pack.

"Good idea," said another, returning the metagross to its pokeball. "Prepare for takeoff."

The three of them quickly hopped inside a nearby vehicle that began hovering into the sky. Seconds later, they had disappeared into the clouds. Cheers broke out throughout the tribe.

"Poachers. I'll have to notify the warden about this," said the man in the white vehicle to Melody. "Thanks for all your help today."

"It was a pleasure," Melody answered. The man turned right and drove off towards the city. "Bye!" yelled Melody. Once the man was gone, Melody gazed around, taking in the scene of the dispersing Eon tribe.

"What's Kat doin'?" she asked.

"Kieren turned to look himself. Kat had remained still and silent the whole time.

"Kat?" Kieren called.

"Melody!" a voice boomed through the devastated forest.

"That's my father, gotta go" Melody spoke.

Kieren turned and nodded as he watched his foxy friend depart into the woods.

"Kieren?" he heard a small voice say. He turned towards Kat who was now looking up at him with a dreamy expression of hope cast across her face, something Kieren had not seen from Kat in a long time.

"Huh?" Kieren asked.

"One day, I'm going to have that kind of power. Psychic power."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** **I don't have much to say since I've been taking a break from writing lately to prepare for game jam and take time to refresh before I tackle Ch 25 (a really significant chapter). Question: Would you guys want to see some of the 3D work I've been practicing? If so, I will set up a DeviantArt page. Lately I've been working on converting a leafeon rig with painted expressions into an IK rig with eyeballs and jaws. I even have the ears, tail, and head leaf animating themselves.**


	7. 7) Decisions Suck

**Author's Note:**

 **Review Update! For those wondering what the original AN was, it was just me rambling about a Game Jam I was in and the 3D work I did on it. PM me if that stuff interests you. Also, this was originally a bonus chapter, so bonus bonus!**

* * *

 **BrightMind: Hopefully you are still reading this! Just stick with it! It is too early to make sense of it all yet. Now on to your reviews.**

 **1) Yes, the first few chapters are really short. They've also had the most iterations before being originally posted. This review thing is mostly to help me update chapters with their latest versions just before readers read them as well as answer questions they may have.**

 **2) Yes it is, but that statement was made from Melody's POV. I do this a lot in this story.**

 **3) No. Definitely not coincidence. Many names have meaning or foreshadowing in this story.**

 **5 &6) Yes. This story takes into account the latest generations. Don't let your current hypothesis deter you from reading this story! Not everything is as it seems! There's so much more going on here that you haven't read yet! What I will say is that it is not entirely possible for the tribe to be unaware of the other evolved forms. Eeveelutions are not typically a migrating kind, and the tribe is pretty secluded from society with only a few exceptions. Lastly, a clue that might be worth looking at is buried with the Lapras in Chapter 2. Don't let any of this be an answer though. There's so much more to come.**

* * *

 **This chapter is a little longer for this section, but is certainly nowhere near the longest in this story. This chapter introduces some of my favorite characters to write, so enjoy!**

 **This chapter was updated 8/12/2016 and is 1600+ words.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon, just dream it.**

* * *

Chapter 7: Decisions Suck

Clouds littered the sky like scattered marshmallows, but failed to block the sunrays from falling over the trees. Leaves flapped and rolled about in the soft wind. The water rippled softly against the shore. Not a single vaporeon disturbed the water as all were preparing for the ceremony.

Kieren didn't want to be there. He didn't want to be anywhere. He didn't want to follow his father's footsteps, but he did not know how to best avoid them. He wasn't ready.

Kat had returned to her spot underneath the cliff by the lake to finish the last of her decorations. Melody was delivering invitations.

Kieren never hung out with many of the other eevee. Most of them picked on him because of his father. Caleb was one exception. Caleb was strong, but he was often overlooked due to his nature-loving attitude. He loved plants, no scratch that. He was obsessed with plants. He even skipped training days to take care of his garden plants, and he probably would be in tonight's ceremony if it weren't for…well…plants. Even Kieren had to admit he was kinda an oddball, but he was tough. Caleb was Kieren's last good friend he hadn't talked to that day. It was the only thing left to do, so Kieren headed to the garden.

Caleb was nowhere to be seen.

"Wow. That plan sucked," Kieren told himself sarcastically. "Because no one who loves flowers goes out and decorates for the ceremony. Kieren, why are you such an idiot?"

Before he could answer his own question, he felt a strange, jerking impact against the side of his body. His feet lost their grip to the ground and suddenly Kieren was tumbling down the hill in every-which direction with whatever hit him. Finally his body stopped twirling as he slid to a halt along the dirt.

"Gotcha Kieren!" said a nearby prominent voice.

"You sure did, Trent," Kieren moaned, immediately recognizing the voice. He looked up and realized how close he suddenly was to the lake. Trent was kind enough to help the shaken eevee back to his feet.

"You ready for the ceremony tonight?" Trent asked enthusiastically.

"Eh," Kieren shrugged. He began dusting off his fur releasing pillows of dirt and scraps of vegetation.

"Just think of all the work and training we've put in, of all the fun times we had together, and now we get to partake in the ceremony together. Isn't that kinda cool?"

"You know it cous'," Kieren answered, trying to replicate his cousin's enthusiasm. It was kinda cool that they got to enjoy the ceremony together, if only Kieren had already decided what to become.

"So whatcha gonna be?"

Ugh! That question! It was like asking Melody her favorite swimming location.

"You tell me first," Kieren replied thinking quickly. He hoped to use his cousin's answer to redirect the topic of the conversation.

"Flareon all the way," Trent boasted.

"How come?" Kieren asked slightly astonished. Many had thought Trent would become a jolteon due to his speed, and since his father was also one. Despite being related to Kieren and Boran, Trent was well respected. Trent's father was one of the tribe's officers and Trent had full intentions to inherit the role in the future.

"Well I figured our tribe could use a little firepower that has brains, and that screams me," Trent boasted.

Kieren had to agree with that statement. Trent was too aggressive to be a jolteon, and the tribe really could use a flareon with an IQ greater than a negative number.

"So what about you?" asked the eevee Kieren had grown up with and hung out with his entire life. They had shared their sorrows and joys, and both felt the embarrassment of Boran to the family. Trent even sported a scar on his rear right ankle from the day he once stood up for Kieren. They had both tried to forget the incident that haunted Kieren's dreams. Kieren kept silent, crunching his neck fur together. His tail lost its energy and fell to the ground, being dragged by the slow, lethargic walking pace Kieren adopted.

"It's ok," Trent tried to comfort, outstretching his right paw. "Melody told me you were having trouble with this decision, and it makes total sense why."

"What? Really? Who all did she tell?" Kieren asked. He let a hint of worry escape from his tongue.

"Just me, after I told her that I was trying to find you." That was a relief to Kieren. The last thing he needed was his tribe to know that he was struggling on a decision most make years before their Evelescence Ceremony. Silence ensued.

"Decisions suck," Kieren groaned.

"And we're going to do something about that," Trent responded with a grin.

Kieren was thunderstruck. Could Trent have really cooked up another one of his crazy plans even under these circumstances?

"What do you suppose we do?" Kieren asked, curious, albeit slightly skeptical.

"Ask the Lapras," Trent answered. Kieren was dumbfounded. He had completely forgotten about the Lapras of the Lake. They would surely have the wisdom to help him make the tough decision, and if not, they would at least know what he should do to make the best of things. Kieren nodded at his cousin and smiled, expressing his temporary comfort and hope.

As the two of them walked, Kieren's mind raced in wonder as to what the Lapras might say. Would they tell him to be a jolteon like Celestia and Boran? Should he be a flareon like Trent, whom he had grown up with? Strangely enough, Kieren couldn't think of a single reason to be a vaporeon. Perhaps that meant progress?

They had reached the lake's edge where a buoy floated close to shore.

"Ready?" Trent asked. Kieren nodded the go-ahead. Trent did not hesitate in making a small black ball appear before himself. A second later, he hurled it at the buoy, causing the buoy to rock back and forth like the remains of a willow vine after a piece snapped off. Trent was almost surely on the disconnected ends of those broken vines.

Kieren was broken from thought as a large creature emerged from the lake. It was Drake, the second-youngest of the Lapras of the Lake. He was still in his youth, and was very good friends with Kieren and Trent.

"What's up, guys?" Drake greeted in his typical youth fashion.

"How's it going Drake?" Trent responded.

"Smooth as slippery ice," Drake cooed. "What brings you two here? And Kieren. Why are you so mellow?"

"The ceremony is tonight, and Kieren still hasn't decided what to become," Trent answered for his cousin.

"We were wondering if your family could help," Kieren added shyly.

"No problem," Drake responded merrily. "And no need to be shy. Our family has recently been discussing if we were still of any use to your tribe. It's great to know our wisdom's still treasured. Be right back."

"That's a good start," said Trent after Drake disappeared back into the depths of the lake.

Kieren nodded and returned to his thoughts.

"You'll have to thank Melody. She came up with the idea."

Kieren nodded again in acknowledgement. Figures. Melody's plans were more…uh…practical. Not that Trent was a bad schemer, in fact his crazy concoctions worked more often than not. But his plans were still pretty crazy and out there.

A couple of broken willow branches and a bruised Trent later, Drake returned along with another lapras. This new lapras was slightly darker in color and much taller.

"Good evening Kieren," she greeted.

"This is my mother, Tara," Drake informed the two eevee.

"It is a pleasure to meet you Tara," Kieren bowed.

"Drake told me everything, and if I remember correctly, you are to be Boran's successor as part of the Lunar family line, correct?"

"Uh huh," Kieren answered timidly.

"Don't be shy, Kieren. I was once as wild as Drake is, and grew up with Celestia. She tells me everything. We Lapras may be wise, but we are in no way formal."

Kieren nodded, regaining his composure.

"So Kieren, the Evelescence Ceremony is tonight, and you do not know what to evolve into, correct?"

"Yes," Kieren answered.

"Why do you feel you must evolve?"

"Because I don't want to follow my father's wretched footsteps. I must be the leader he failed to be," Kieren spoke with confident determination.

"You have great aspirations, Kieren," said Tara pleased.

"Thanks Tara." Kieren replied humbly.

"Sadly though, it is too late for me to help you decide, as the ceremony begins in less than an hour. However, if you follow my instructions, you should be able to reach your goals. Are you ready?"

Kieren nodded. Nobody else knew it, but Tara's words had just sent him through an emotional roller coaster in the matter of seconds.

"Great. First, try to enjoy the ceremony, after all, you are ready to evolve. You have made it this far, and that is quite an accomplishment." Kieren glanced over at Trent, who held out his paw for a fist bump. Kieren smiled and returned the gesture. "Second, when the time comes to make the decision, tell Celestia the truth, that you still have not decided. Finally, find Zach, the warden's son. He will know what to do. Good Luck," she said. She and Drake disappeared under the water's surface as the two eevee thanked them.

"Let's Go! The Ceremony's about to start!" Trent told Kieren.

They hurried along, but there was only one thing on Kieren's mind:

Who was Zach?

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** **I hope you enjoyed the characters! It certainly won't be the last time you see them! We're almost through with the short chapters! Don't forget to specify which chapter you want updated in your review! I will do my best to get it up in a timely manner! Enjoy the next chapters! ~Dreaming I'm Latios**


	8. 8) Bitter Praise

**Author's Note:**

 **To any weekday readers who may have just binge-read the first seven chapters, welcome! I typically upload Saturdays, but I upload bonus chapters any day of the week. I count reviews for my bonus chapters up until Friday evening, so read and review at your preferred time and place!**

 **To all my readers, you may have noticed this story has a lot of characters. Based on first impressions, who's your favorite? Least favorite? Feel free to post your answer to either this chapter or the previous.**

 **Today is 6/30/2015 and this chapter is 900+ words.**

* * *

Chapter 8: Bitter Praise

Torches flickered and flashed their flames from upon their pedestals, marking the pathways and gathering areas for all those in attendance. There were many of them, vaporeon, jolteon, flareon, and young eevee. The smell of food wafted through the air; roasted berries tickled their noses. Mixed with the scents were traces of hot cinnamon and fresh mint. Woven leaves and flowers fantasized the aisles and breathed life to the stage. Above, various works of Eon light art flashed with luminance in fanciful patterns. Kieren spotted some of the decorations Kat had made hanging on the back wall. He also noticed the increased number of lights this ceremony compared to the previous year.

"Ready?" Trent asked.

Kieren nodded.

A vaporeon gestured to both of them, signaling them to begin their march. They were the last ones to march down the aisle. Shouts and flashes surrounded them in the air. Kieren marched onwards imitating his cousin's bold stride. Everyone was in a festive mood. He could hear his and Trent's names among the sounds shouted by the mass numbers of his tribe, albeit mostly Trent's.

"Good luck, Kieren," came a voice from the side.

Kieren turned. It was Caleb. He was wearing a green necklace woven out of fresh oran leaves. Kieren wished he could tell Caleb everything on his mind. Caleb likely knew none of it, unless he ran into Melody after Trent had. Kieren almost stopped, but realizing this could potentially interrupt the ceremony and interfere with Tara's plan, he continued walking as he neared the stage.

Soon he and Trent found the other honored eevee sitting in the first few rows. There were two cushions made from the softest of leaves unoccupied, clearly reserved for Trent and Kieren. The two eevee sat down.

A large roar of cheers greeted Celestia as she made her appearance from the back of the stage to the left of the giant wall of colors. She walked with grace and prestige as she made her way across the tiled floor until she found a comfortable position up front to address the audience. The tribe silenced. The sudden presence of the quiet wind through the leaves of the forest gave Kieren an eerie feeling, like the lake before a heavy rainstorm. The ceremony certainly would not end this peacefully.

"To my fellow citizens of the Eon tribe," Celestia addressed.

The tribe gave a quick roar of acknowledged applause before growing eerie quiet again.

"Tonight as you all know is a special night. As our tribe continues to stand against the test of time, new generations are born. Tonight we celebrate the achievements of a select few of our newest generation. The eevee that are here before you have proven themselves Eons of strength, and have outgrown their current forms. We as the Eon tribe possess the power of multiple elements…"

Kieren could no longer listen. There were way too many things on his mind. How would he confess that he had not made his decision? What would Celestia say? What would his mother say? Would his father bring some kind of disaster to the situation? Probably.

"And now we shall watch in awe as these eevee take on their chosen element of fire, water, or lightning!"

Kieren couldn't watch. These were the eevee that had ridiculed him because he was the son of "Boran the Dumb". Name after name was called. Enemy after enemy outgrew him in power. What were these eevee, now evolved, going to do to him? Would they bully him? Would he be able to escape? Where would he run? Could he dig his way out of the forest? Would he survive? The thoughts of him crawling up rocks had summoned his frequent nightmare to replay once again in his mind. Luckily, though, this time it was short lived.

"Trenton Lunaflare!" Celestia announced.

Kieren looked up, finally daring to make eye contact with the stage again. Celestia had moved over to the right of the stage watching with interest. At the center of the stage sat three pebbles, each possessing an elemental power.

"Good luck, Cous'!" Kieren told the eevee next to him.

"Thanks. I got this," Trent answered confidently as he rose from the leaf-woven seat. He valiantly ascended the three steps to the center of the stage and faced the audience. With a confident smile on his face he picked up his paw, and placed it on the left-most of the three stones on the stage. The whispers of the tribe died as Trent's fur began to radiate a brilliant white light. The glow began to conquer and possess his entire body, stretching it and reshaping it until the silhouette of his chosen form emerged. Suddenly the white glow exploded from the center of his body, leaving behind a blazing red version of the silhouette.

"Flareon, because I shall master the combination of both firepower and brainpower!" Upon finishing he blasted flames high into the air. Cheers erupted from the tribe.

"Congrats! Trenton!" praised Celestia. She was quite surprised that he had not chosen lightning, yet was very pleased with his reasoning. Next was Kieren. Kieren was the only one she could not even guess as to what he might choose.

"And last but not least, of the Lunar Family Line and successor of Boran Bluestripe, Lunar Alpha," Celestia announced. It had been a long time since that name for Boran's position had been spoken of within the tribe. Ever since the war with the furret, Celestia had always referred to herself as THE Alpha, because Boran never held up to his leadership responsibilities.

Trent nodded to Kieren as his new form sat cautiously on the woven cushion, avoiding setting it ablaze. Kieren gave one last faint smile to Trent, before readying his hind legs to move.

"Kieren Bluestripe!"

* * *

 **Author's Note:** **Everything I'd say here I already said in the previous chapter's author's notes, so go read that and feel free to give me a PM if you are interested in anything. And if you have questions on how to do any of the things I do (because I do a lot of things - see profile page and previous author's notes for more details), do not hesitate to ask me questions. The more questions I answer, the more I learn. Safe travels! ~Dreaming I'm Latios**


	9. 9) Leaving Home

**Author's Note:**

 **For everyone in the U.S...  
**

 **HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!**

 **For everyone outside the U.S...**

 **Happy first Saturday in July!**

 **Here's a chapter to burn those spare minutes before the fireworks start, or to burn your Saturday night while all your U.S. friends are celebrating. As for me, none of my friends live nearby and my family is gone, so I think I'm going to stay inside and avoid the mosquitoes.**

 **Today is 7/4/2015 and this chapter is 900+ words.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon, just dream it.**

* * *

Chapter 9: Leaving Home

Kieren stood up. His time had come. He could hear the cheers of his name being shouted.

"Go Kieren!" his mother called.

"Make us proud! Kieren!" yelled Boran.

Time began to slow as Kieren stepped towards the stage. He looked around him. Blasts of fire and water colored the sky. Streaks of lightning danced about in the air. Around him, flareon, jolteon, and vaporeon were leaping about, waving their tails like banners in the wind. The illuminated decorations flashed in new and vibrant patterns.

Kieren ascended the first step. Behind the stage, Kieren could see himself walking up the steps from a side view on the wall. The stage floor danced colors of white until they shaped out the picture of a full moon with stars flying about in the background.

Another step. The noises of the tribe grew louder. The screams and howls began to unify into one large chant.

"Kieren! Kieren! Kieren!" Kieren lifted his paw slowly, and placed it on the lighted floor of the stage. He leaped up and found himself on the same level as Celestia to his right. He could see the stones in front of him and carefully avoided them as he pressed onwards to center stage. He turned slowly, mind racing at the bewildering sight as he looked at the audience that once mocked him, now cheering for him like a hero. Was he to be a hero? Or an alpha? He looked about frantically, knowing that he had to confess to all of them that he had yet to make his decision.

Finally he closed his eyes and waited. He listened to the subsiding chants until all he could hear were the leaves rustling in the trees; a berry losing a grip on its branch and plopping into the calm of the lake. Seconds seemed like minutes as his mind raced about how to make his confession.

"Kieren. Have you yet to make your decision?" Celestia asked.

Kieren inhaled. The moment he had dreaded all day had finally come.

"Yes."

He nearly cringed at the sudden gasps and whispers that began to stir and circulate around him. He could make out the words in his fellow classmates' chatter.

"A future alpha can't decide what to be? Has this ever happened before?"

"Does the tribe have any rules for this? Can he still become an alpha?"

"I hope he doesn't. At this rate he'll be another Boran if he can."

"Silence!" Celestia screamed. "Do not judge him! It is not uncommon for a future successor to an Alpha of the Eon Tribe to struggle with such an important decision. In fact I too failed to make that decision at my time."

Kieren turned to Celestia in sudden curiosity. Perhaps this time his birthright had actually been of benefit to him. Maybe he wasn't completely behind if Celestia came to be what she was after struggling to evolve herself. He didn't always agree with her, but she was a strong leader compared to his father. Tara must have known this all along. But what next?

"So Kieren. Do you wish to one day fulfill your father's role?" Celestia asked him publicly. Kieren took a short pause to think of a response. He scoured through his memory of the various conversations he had with Trent about his father he had tried so hard to be nothing like. He smiled when an idea came to him.

"I do not wish to fulfill my father's standing," he stated. His grin grew as those below him began to gasp in shock. He turned. Even Celestia's face displayed astonishment. Looking back at the crowd, Kieren could taste the words that were to follow.

"I wish to exceed it TENFOLD!" A simultaneous, almost instant chorus of roars and cheers from the tribe gifted him the absolute, utmost satisfaction. The stage danced with celebratory lights. From the lake, Kieren could see the reflection a tenfold symbol that was displayed on the screen behind him. He turned again to see a smile across Celestia's face.

"You couldn't have said it any better," she whispered to him. "I hope you will fulfill your words." She turned to address the audience again, and waited until she had silence.

"As you can see, our Kieren has great hopes for our tribe. But as to what element will best help him fulfill his goals for our tribe, such knowledge has not yet come to his enlightenment, which is not unusual for an eevee of such potential. Because our reserve has not enlightened him, he shall be enlightened by the world outside. He shall leave the reserve for five days, doing whatever he must to make his decision. When he returns, he shall announce his decision he feels best fit as a future alpha of our tribe. Best of luck to you, Kieren."

Celestia signaled with her head for him to exit the stage publicly. The tribe cheered as he descended each step, walking through the same aisle he entered; only this time, he was passing through all by himself. He marched out with the same poise and confidence he had garnered on stage until he passed through the gates of the aisle. He continued onwards as the noise dissipated slowly but surely. Darkness slowly dawned upon him as he left the vicinity of the ceremony. All that was left were the silhouettes of the forest leaves and the moon that cast itself over the lake. After a while he noticed a faint figure ahead of him. Slowly that figure began to grow clearer and clearer until he was within bodylength.

"Ready?" asked the voice of Melody the vulpix.

"You bet," Kieren answered vitally. For him things could not have possibly gone smoother. He had somehow managed to escape a potential nightmare, and had bought himself more time. All his worry was for naught. He and his best friend walked onwards towards their next adventure.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** **Well that was the last of the "normal" chapters. Honestly I dare you guys to try to predict what's going to happen next. Also, chapter 10 is the last of the series of short chapters. I'm gone next weekend again so you have plenty of time to review for the bonus chapter. Enjoy the fireworks! ~Dreaming I'm Latios**


	10. 10) Who Cares?

**Author's Note:**

 **Last short chapter, and hopefully the last time my upload schedule gets interrupted. Anyways, remember when I said Ch 4 was important, well this chapter begins a subplot around Kat and introduces some more characters.  
**

 **Today is 7/12/2015 and this chapter is 600+ words.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon, just dream it.**

* * *

Chapter 10: Who Cares?

"Wow, he's actually gone." Spoke a feminine sarcastic voice.

"It makes me wonder, do you think he can actually be a leader?"

"Connor! Are you stupid? No leader can possibly come from Boran the Dumb!" a more mature flareon voice criticized.

"You've got a point, Andy," Connor admitted.

"So then what was with all that jazz at the ceremony last night?" asked the female of the group.

"Who cares? Paige," said Andy, allowing a hint of annoyance to slip from his voice. "It was probably just for show. Some of the elders would likely have complained if Celestia didn't honor the 'Lunar Line' even though Boran pretty much killed it. Hey, there's Trent over there. Why don't you ask him."

"Trent!" Paige called over to the flareon mindlessly walking along the shoreline enjoying the rays of sunlight reflected off the water. His ears perked at the call of his name and he quickly dashed towards the group to investigate.

"What's up?" Trent asked.

"Hey Trent," Andy answered first, "Paige was wondering what Kieren and Celestia were talking about at the ceremony last night and we thought you might know since you might have been more inclined to listen. Oh and by the way, you're lookin' good as a flareon."

"Ha, thanks. Lookin' good yourself, I might add," Trent chimed. "As for Kieren, Paige, he was justifying his difficulty in his decision by saying how unlike his father he would actually fill the role as Alpha."

"That's a laugh!" mocked a female vaporeon that jumped out from the lake and trotted towards the group.

"What makes you say that? Samantha!" Trent asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Even if Kieren wanted to be a leader, he's got no foundation with such a lame father like Boran," she answered with a twist of her neck as if to display her new vaporeon-ness.

"Yea, except Kieren's already defied his father by crushing him in battle multiple times," Trent stated calmly.

"Doesn't take much," Samantha argued. Trent growled under his breath.

"Well believe me when I say he's strong. I trained with him," he told them in a more serious tone.

"And look who's talking. A flareon, seriously? You pick the one element none of the other elements are weak too."

"Hey, at least I don't have to worry about being tangled by an ariados," Trent answered slyly. It was such a stupid argument, but he knew it was going to work anyways.

"Shut Up!" Samantha screamed, bringing the group to laughter. "That game was tough!"

"Must have been, because Kat made it farther than you," Trent teased, bringing more laughs.

"Well she was lucky then," Samantha growled.

"I wouldn't necessarily call 'The Blob' 'lucky'," Trent argued. Connor and Paige shook at the thought of 'The Blob.' They were still in training and had heard the stories of it.

"That's right!" Andy exclaimed turning to Trent, now recalling the event. "Whatever happened to that bravery of hers?"

"Kieren told me she doesn't have anything to channel that bravery into."

"But that's Kieren. Who knows if it's true?" Andy challenged.

"Well if you aren't going to take her best friend's word, why don't you ask her yourself?" Trent offered calmly. Trying to defend Kieren on the spot was a hopeless cause, so why not let them prove Kieren's word?

"I would, but I don't know where I would find her."

"I thought I saw her with Aubrey the ninetails this morning," Paige stated.

"Well I'm curious," said Andy. "Anyone want to come?"

"You can count me out!" Samantha sassed, but much to her dismay, Connor and Paige followed Andy into the forest.

"Aubrey? Strange," Trent mumbled to himself. "Tara might know." He returned to his walk along the shoreline, leaving Samantha behind pouting.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** **I hate to say this, but this summer is flying by fast. I counted only 5 weekends before I go back to school. That means that unless you guys start reviewing and generate an incentive for me to have a writing marathon, you are only going to get 5 of the longer chapters before I stop uploading until Christmas break. As always, 1 review equals 1 bonus chapter. Or if you prefer code:  
**

 **void Story::uploadForWeek(Story story)**

 **{**

 **++;**

 **if ( [current_week] 0)**

 **++;**

 **}**

 **One review can be a short sentence with your favorite part, favorite quote, favorite line, or a full-blown critique. I even accept PMs if you want Privacy, and ask for a shout-out if you want publicity. Also keep an eye out for a submission form for the story. This might surprise some of you considering my approach to writing and uploading, but I had this planned for a while, and it will make a lot more sense later. More details to come. Enjoy these last few weeks of summer! ~Dreaming I'm Latios**


	11. 11) The Townfox

**Author's Note:**

 **I actually had to debate with myself whether the review that earned this chapter should count, but in trying to decide I came up with a new plot point to help fill out the story, so I decided that was useful enough. Also this review came nearly instantly after I announced the next chapters would be longer, so Kudos to realizing that you were a review away from the longest chapter yet!**

 **The moral of the story is that just because one person reviews doesn't mean you shouldn't. It may not always impact you right away, but more reviews will help me write more efficiently and more often. So before you go read this next chapter, go back and tell me if I made the ceremony suspenseful enough.**

 **I will also remind you that bonus chapters require a review too for bonus chapters consecutive weeks.**

 **Now on to the fun stuff! I noticed this chapter was missing a few descriptions when I gave it one last review, but I may have missed some, so let me know if you feel there are any descriptive elements (body gestures, thought processes, emotions, environmental details, ect.) missing either in the reviews or via PM.**

 **Lastly, I introduce to you mid-chapter line breaks!**

 **Today is 7/12/2015 and this chapter is 2400+ words.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon, just dream it.**

* * *

Chapter 11: The Townfox

The forest rejoiced as dawn vibrantly painted the shadows of night with vibrant colors of day. The day promised to be bright, sunny, and full of activity, at least that's what the meteorologists predicted according to Melody.

"People survive by simply predicting the weather?" Kieren asked in curiosity. He and Melody had only made a minute's stride into their new journey from the edge of a forest clearing where they slept for the night. Melody made sure to pick a spot where the sun would wake them bright and early before any other members of the tribe found them.

"People survive doing all sorts of different jobs," Melody explained. "They have businesses for everything. Some manage money. Some provide health. Some invent new forms of technology. There's even businesses for entertainment."

"How come we don't do that? Wouldn't that make our tribe stronger?" Kieren asked while staring at the glittering dew on the roots of trees.

"Your tribe actually behaves like one business."

"What kind of business?" Kieren asked, turning towards the vulpix.

"Well, you provide products made from nature, especially rare and powerful medicines, so you're very prominent in the medical industry," Melody answered with a snap of her six tails.

"And your family runs that business aspect in town?" Kieren tried.

"Well my parents do," Melody confessed. She turned her gaze ahead. "I simply deliver the letters and transactions."

"And what about Taylor?"

"The vaporeon officer? He handles supply counts according to Celestia's plan."

"Hah! That's another thing my lame father was supposed to do," Kieren scoffed, rolling his eyes and turning away. Melody dropped her tails as her eyes widened in shock.

"Regulate supplies? That's a fulltime job itself! How could you get anything else done?"

"I meant my father was supposed to create the supply plans, not Celestia," Kieren grumbled.

"Oh," said Melody. Like yesterday she had lead Kieren into another personal topic, although this time Kieren was more open about it. She allowed silence to fall between them as they walked onwards. Eventually the trees stopped. Around them was a field of grass as vast as the forest itself. Kieren stared at the upward slope in front of him, curious at what was hidden behind it. He had never wandered outside of the forest. He noticed how all the green strips of plant life from the earth all swayed in unison in every rush of breeze, causing streaks of reflected sunlight to shimmer off the morning dew. So was this Melody's world?

"Just start walking up the hill; I'll catch up," said Melody as she dashed off. Kieren had only made it halfway when Melody returned with her satchel.

"That was quick," Kieren remarked.

"Nah. I ran while you walked," Melody answered. "Anyways, I have a few things to deliver, so I thought I could give you a tour of the city in the process. And then we can decide what to do from there."

"The city?" Kieren asked, but Melody didn't have time to answer before Kieren stopped midstride. He gazed up in awe at the towers and patterns of white and grey that bloomed in the skyline with majesty and perfection. "Wow! That place is huge!" Excitement danced through his blood as his curiosity overwhelmed his senses.

"Welcome to Eon City!" Melody announced, only to realize that Kieren was already making a mad dash over the top of the hill and onwards.

* * *

Fortunately, Melody was able to catch up as Kieren was there waiting by the street for her, unsure of what was going on. His head raced back and forth at every car that passed from either direction.

"Those are cars, Kieren," Melody patiently explained as she walked up next to him. "People use them to get around the city quicker, as well as move between cities."

Kieren turned and nodded. He figured there was a reason why they only existed on that weird, hard, flat path, but it was probably too complicated for him.

"So how do we get to the city without being hit by one of those car-things?" he asked.

"This way," Melody responded swinging her head as she turned to the right.

They made stride in the grass alongside the road; Kieren was listening intently as Melody gave him a lecture on street safety.

"So is this a sidewalk?" Kieren asked as they approached a paved path ahead that crossed over the street via bridge.

"It's actually just a 'walking path.' It doesn't run alongside a street," Melody answered. "As you will see in a few minutes, though, it will turn into a sidewalk."

Kieren nodded again, attempting to craft the distinction in his mind. They crossed the bridge and continued to walk. The buildings growing closer and closer until suddenly the path veered off to the left next to a road; a road, Kieren noticed, which went right through the city.

To Melody's expectations, Kieren was dashing off again, being dragged ahead by his strong sense of curiosity, but this time she was right behind. Kieren didn't make it far before he stopped, catching Melody by surprise as she flew past her now oblivious friend. She stopped and looked back over her shoulder.

"Kieren! This is downtown! Come on! There's plenty to see!"

"But…what if…they catch us?" Kieren asked, stuttering with nervousness as he stared at all the people who wandered about with their bags which way and that.

Melody chuckled.

"Trainers' pokemon roam through here all the time. No one will ever guess we're wild. Plus I can speak to them, so there's nothing to worry about," Melody boasted with confidence.

Kieren tentatively began to follow the red fox.

To Kieren's surprise, Melody was right. People hardly took notice as the two of them strolled along between the various shops and businesses.

"So what do these businesses all do?" Kieren asked, grazing his glance back and forth across all the signs and doorways on the busy streets.

"Well most of these places are shops where people can go and buy what they want with the money they have," Melody explained.

"Hey that place sells elemental stones!" Kieren shouted, pointing to a banner in the air ahead. He especially recognized the signature lightingbolt on the yellow thunderstone painted with excellent detail against the red background.

"Yep. That's _Horizons: Treasures and Apparel,_ " Melody read. That's where we buy the ceremony stones from. Come on! Let's go inside!"

"Wait, we're going inside?" Kieren asked, but Melody was skipping ahead as she turned in through the doorway. Kieren shortly followed.

"Morning Tommy! Melody greeted as she stepped inside and approached the back counter of the small shop, fanning her tails in merry greeting.

"Why if it isn't Aubrey's daughter Melody!" the man acknowledged with a chuckle that spawned from deep within his gut. "How ya doin'? And look you've brought a friend along! Is he from the reserve too?"

"Sure is!" Melody cheered. "This is Kieren. I'm giving him a tour around the city. Anyways, I have with me an order shipment reception confirmation you requested after the incident yesterday."

"Ah. Thank You. If you don't mind, I'd like to hear more about that," Tommy requested.

"Sure, what have you heard so far?" Melody asked, jumping up onto the counter.

"Just a sec. Your friend looks a little confused," the man noted, turning Melody's gaze to a stupefied Kieren. "Kieren! Feel free to look around and try stuff on. See what you like and don't like while we chat over here."

"Kieren, shopping doesn't mean you have to buy things. You might even discover a little about yourself," Melody added, after noticing Kieren wasn't moving. Kieren shrugged and began to wander around observing both the various stones, some of which he didn't recognize, and the apparel of the same shapes as the ones humans outside wore. Meanwhile Melody and Tommy discussed the previous day's events. Their conversation continued with the ceremony, and Tommy was pleased to hear that it was a success; nevertheless, he was surprised to also hear about Kieren's trouble.

"So you're having trouble deciding what to evolve into, huh, Kieren?" Tommy asked.

"Dude this hat looks awesome on me!" Kieren blurted without a clue as to what he was asked.

Melody laughed. "I think that's my sign we need to get going. See ya later Tommy!" She hopped down and walked towards the exit. "Come on Kieren. Put the hat back and let's go explore some more." Tommy laughed with a "Thanks for coming!" as he watched the two leave.

Now with his newfound knowledge of what a store was like, Kieren took interest in what each of the shops had to offer as he and Melody trotted down the street.

"Hey, what's that big place up ahead?" he asked, lifting his head up to a building with lots of flashing lights.

"That's the movie theatre I've always told you about," Melody answered with delight.

"Really? That's so cool! And what's that place? It don't look like a store either." Kieren could not contain his excitement and curiosity, learning all about his best friend's secret world.

"That's a bank."

"Hey, isn't that the money saving place?" Kieren asked.

"One of them," Melody answered, happy he was catching on.

"There's more than one?"

"There's more than one of almost everything in the city, and they all have different names."

Kieren nodded with only partial understanding, but his curiosity continued as he glanced to the left. "What about that place? And why is everybody there fat?"

"That's Galactic Burgers, a fast food restaurant," Melody answered with a slight giggle at Kieren's observation. "And the people are fat because the food is shit."

"Literally?" Kieren asked.

"Pretty close."

"Damn!" Kieren remarked. "Sounds like the perfect place to ditch Samantha on a fake date!" Melody laughed at his ridiculously cheesy humor. Kieren turned ahead, realizing that there were no more shops but rather the towering buildings decorated with windows he first saw from the hillside.

"Where to next?" he asked, turning back to his friend with a slightly lost expression.

"The Pokemon Center," Melody replied.

"What's the Pokemon Center?" Kieren asked tilting his head slightly as they continued along in a new direction.

"It is a place where trainers can take their pokemon to be nourished back to health after battles or other incidents." Melody explained. "Every Pokemon Center is run by a Nurse Joy that is a specialist in pokemon medicine and recovery. She'll even care for wild pokemon that trainers may find in need of help."

Kieren paused, taking in all the information Melody gave her. "Were you ever taken there?"

"Once."

"Really? What happened?" Kieren's face shot up in astonishent.

"Well it's kinda embarrassing." Melody slurred blushing a deep red.

"Alright. We don't have to talk about it," Kieren responded, allowing Melody to relax in relief. "Is this it?" Kieren asked looking up at one of the buildings.

"Yep. They all have that red and white symbol at the top," Melody confirmed, nearly astonished at the pace Kieren was learning.

"Cool!" Kieren said excitedly before dashing off with Melody on his tail.

"Morning Nurse Joy!" Melody greeted as they entered the Pokemon Center.

"Good morning, Melody. I suppose you have the medicine catalog today?"

"Right here," Melody responded cheerfully as she reached into her satchel and handed the nurse an envelope. The nurse took it and ripped it open while Kieren observed the surroundings. There was a strange sense of familiarity to it. Had he been here before? The nurse stood behind a counter which encased a doorway to a large room with all sorts of machinery. On the left side of a counter was another doorway that a large round pokemon walked through wheeling some table-like mechanism.

"Are these patients?" the creature asked. Kieren assumed it was called a 'Chansey' based on the way it communicated.

"Chansey, can you check on the other patients?" Nurse Joy asked not fully understanding the Pokemon's question.

Around the room were empty chairs and benches. It was a quiet day at the Pokemon Center. On the right side of the counter was an open hallway with several cushioned benches and tables.

"Oh, good. I see you have Oscillerperoxcidrydone Emphcillicynidrin." Nurse Joy stated. Kieren turned to her blankly not comprehending the strange pattern of syllables she produced. His reaction caught the nurse's attention. "My apologies. I don't believe your friend remembers me."

"This is Kieren. He's from the reserve. I'm giving him a tour of the city today," Melody explained. "And what do you mean by remember you?"

"Nevermind," Nurse Joy answered while turning towards Kieren. "It's great to see another pokemon from the reserve. Why don't you two stay for lunch? I have plenty of questions to ask if you don't mind."

"No problem. And thank you," Melody answered. As the nurse turned away, she gave a sneaky glance at Kieren. His gaze was stuck on one particular hallway which Melody knew lead to several intensive care units. A suspicious thought crossed her mind. She shivered.

* * *

"Here you go. How does it taste?" Nurse Joy asked as she handed Kieren and Melody plates of food.

"Excellent!" Melody applauded after biting into the crisp kibble filled with a blend of berries and vegetables. Kieren nodded in agreement after tasting the food himself.

"So where are you off to next?" Joy asked.

"Well," Melody began, turning to Kieren, "that's up to Kieren. The main reason he's out here is because he can't decide what to evolve into."

"Zach," Kieren recalled. His ears sprung up catching Nurse Joy's attention.

"Zach? Who's Zach?" Melody asked confused.

"The warden's son," Kieren answered, staring into space, as his fur stiffened.

"Zach the warden's son?" Melody asked, speaking human so that Nurse Joy could understand.

"Oh, you must mean Mr. Clesse's son Zachary. He has been working at the country club on the west side of the city."

"The country club?" asked an elated Melody.

"That's right!" Nurse Joy confirmed. "Mr. Clesse owns both the country club and the reserve so he can please both people and pokemon. His son Zach has been working extra hours there for an upcoming event. He knows a lot about raising eevee as well." Kieren stood in excitement upon hearing that Zach was an eevee expert. A glance at Melody told him she had something else on her mind. She turned to him with excitement littered all over her smug face.

"Kieren, wait until you see this!"

* * *

 **Author's Note:** **So do you like the longer chapters? Do you like the city setting? Did Kieren make you laugh? Could you visualize every detail in the scene? Who's your favorite character so far in the story? Who do you want to see more of? Can any of you guess what happens next? Are any of these questions rhetorical? Nope. So if you get stuck writing a review, answer a minimum of 1 questions (bad grammar intentional) and you are good to go! Stay safe this summer! ~Dreaming I'm Latios**


	12. 12) In Meadows Green

**Author's Note:**

 **Sorry for the slightly late upload. I've been helping my friends build unorthodox VGC teams capable of having winning ratings battle records.**

 **If you like the story so far and haven't reviewed the last chapter, be sure to do so right now, before you even read the rest of these author notes! More reviews mean more chapters, and I'm not afraid to prove it!**

 **While perhaps not the most artistic chapter in the world, this was definitely one of my favorite chapters to write. Let me know whether or not this chapter made you laugh. It's not stand-up comedy, but I feel the humor sits well in this story. I'll let you be the judge, so enjoy the 12th chapter of Moon on the Water!**

 **Today is 7/18/2015 and this chapter is 3900+ words.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon, just dream it.**

* * *

Chapter 12: In Meadows Green

"Strange," Trent mumbled to himself as he trotted past Kat's favorite hideout. She wasn't there. Could she really have been with Aubrey? Trent decided that now would be the perfect time to see Tara again. She may know more about the situation and he still had questions about the Zach kid she had mentioned yesterday before the ceremony. He stared at the empty overhang and slowly gazed upwards across the rocky formation littered with moss. At the top of the cliff he noticed a shaggy willow tree that loomed its leafy vines over the cliff's edge. Next to it was a towering sitrus tree. Its branches floated and swayed over the water rocking decorative ornaments composed of the tree's rich fruit. Sitrus berries were a very rare meal in the valley. The trees were unclimbable due to the ariados that lived in them; not that the ariados weren't friendly to the tribe, but they preferred to not have their homes invaded. The berries were also hard to knock down as they were fragile and would break apart if hit by any attack.

Trent had a plan though, which he summarized out loud, "Cliff, vine, lunch, dock." Without a second thought, he dashed up the cliff from the rear and eyed out which vine would best get him close to the berries. He observed the tops of the willow tree, searching for a reachable vine that would take him to the low-looming sitrus branch hanging over the water. After a quick two seconds of searching, he found the perfect vine for the task ahead. He then took several steps back, and with determination sprang forward and latched onto the willow vine. He began to taste the scent of the sitrus as the vine lifted him closer and closer to his target.

CRACK!

"Oh Shit!"

He was ten feet short of the dock and plummeting towards the water. He braced himself knowing that the water would sting and drain his energy.

The sting of water never came. Instead, much to his surprise, he collided with something…hard. He looked up.

"Drake?"

"Hell yeah! Man! That was one crazy stunt you tried to pull there!"

"Well thanks for catching me," said Trent, sighing in relief. "I wasn't sure if I would have survived.

"No probs. Dude," Drake responded with a glance back over his shoulder. "Hey, your voice sounds familiar." He craned his neck as far as he could to get a better view at his new passenger. "Wait a sec. You're Trent!" He swung his head around and slapped the water with his fin. "Hell I would have never guessed you would be a flareon. You sure sport the look well though. So where ya headed?"

"I was actually planning on visiting you guys, after a quick lunch that didn't quite happen," Trent answered while adjusting himself into an upright position.

"No kiddin! So how did the ceremony go? Kieren alright?" Drake asked before shooting two quick bursts of water at the sitrus branches above him, successfully shaking off several sitrus berries.

"Heck if only he'd known it would go so smoothly!" Trent paused upon realizing what Drake had managed effortlessly. He glanced over at the berries before giving Drake an amused stare. Drake responded with a smart grin. "Anyways," he continued, "I thought you might be able to tell me who that Zach kid was."

"Ya mean the guy my mom referred Kieren to?" Drake asked while passing a berry to the flareon.

"Yea. Him."

"He's an eevee expert. Plain and Simple," Drake boasted while rocking about in the water. "He knows how to get the best out of them. It's been a family trait for as long as the tribe's existed. His father even told Celestia to be a jolteon and look at her now."

"Wow! Celestia?" Trent asked

"That's right! It's an alpha tradition, Boran being the exception of course."

Trent looked out towards the rest of the lake, wondering how Kieren was doing. He mumbled loud enough for Drake to hear, "Well as long as Kieren knows what he's doing, then I guess there's nothing really to worry about."

* * *

"What are we doing, Melody?" Kieren asked as they walked into a wooden building on the edge of town.

"You'll see," said Melody mischievously while approaching the counter inside. The interior was decorated with several stools and tables as well as a few racks of various apparels which possessed a unique character to them. "Hello," Melody greeted to the man behind the counter. He had a similar build to Tommy from the stone shop, but his hair was lighter in color and he possessed bulkier shoulders. Melody reached into her satchel and pulled out some pieces of paper which she then placed on the countertop in front of the man.

"Hello Melody," the man responded. He then took a glance over at Kieren. "Who's your friend?"

"This is Kieren," Melody answered gleefully. "I'm taking him on a tour through the city and thought it might be fun to try this with him."

"So this is your first time. Huh?" the man asked with his gruff voice. Melody nodded.

"Well we're trying to introduce the game to pokemon, and we invented a new type of club for you four leggers to use." The man said with a smile. "Be right back." He disappeared through a doorway off to the side. Before Kieren could ask Melody what was going on, the man returned holding two large bags. "Here we go," he said as he hoisted the bags onto the counter. Most clubs have a sharp angle where the shaft and the head meet," said the man as he rubbed his hand on the inside corner of a club, "however, for you four leggers the joint is much straighter. You swing the club around in a circle and then hit the ball with the head," the man explained while twirling about in a circle for demonstration. "Quite clever, isn't it?"

Kieren tilted his head slightly as he watched the man's antics with curiosity. "Who thinks of this stuff?" he wondered.

"Thank you so much," said Melody, excitedly. "We'll give it a try."

"The sprinklers just finished running, so the grass may be a little wet. Oh, and feel free to try one of the carts. If you don't like it, just leave it and somebody else will use it."

"Thanks," said Melody eagerly. She grabbed one of the bags the man brought out, brimming with energy from ear to ear.

Kieren grabbed the other bag, hoping this game would make more sense once they started.

"The tees and golf balls are in the zipper pouches, and the carts are to the left," the man shouted as they exited through the entryway.

Kieren and Melody walked around the left edge of the building hiding from them what existed behind. The first thing Kieren noticed was a lot of grass trimmed in funky patterns of stripes and circles. Flags waved in seemingly random locations in these meadows. Streams connected the various ponds that were scattered throughout, while brown dashes freckled the hills. Kieren turned to his right and saw something he for once felt he had seen before. Sitting right in front of him were dozens of those super-transporter things Melody had rode in yesterday.

"So that's where she got this crazy idea from," he thought. Melody was standing there, her tails fanned in excitement. She turned to him.

"Ready Kieren? This is going to be fun!"

* * *

Back at the lake in Eon Valley, a loud voice stirred a motionless flareon atop a slumbering lapras.

"Hey Trent!" the voice hollered, causing the Flareon to look up.

"Andy?" Trent asked drowsily, slowly lifting his head. Drake yawned, waking to the noise.

"Hey Drake, is that you?" Connor shouted with his high-pitched eevee voice.

"Yea, that's me," Drake answered wearily while stretching out his neck in a smooth, lethargic motion.

"Have either of you seen Kat anywhere?" Andy asked with his deeper, matured voice.

"Nah! We were out, dude!" Drake answered, swaying his head, bringing to life his trademark personality.

"She wasn't with Aubrey?" Trent asked with a concerning voice, now recalling his previous mission before sleep took hold of him.

"She was, but she had already left when we got there," Paige answered while contorting her face to emphasize her disappointment. Trent dismounted Drake who had now brought himself up next to the dock where the others were standing.

"Kat was with Aubrey?" Drake asked baffled as he floated alongside the dock towards shore.

"Did Aubrey tell you why?" Trent asked the trio, ignoring Drake's question.

"She wouldn't say," Andy answered. "She said we'd have to ask Kat herself."

Trent turned to Drake. "Do you have any idea?"

Drake shook his head. "I'm as puzzled as you are, Trent"

"So where would Kat be now?" Connor asked, growing impatient on the shoreline where the group had migrated. Much to his surprise he was answered by a large splash in the lake.

"I'm right here!" said Kat as she emerged from the water near the cliff and shook her fur. Everyone watched her in shock, not expecting her to suddenly appear from the water.

"Well hey," Drake called, being the quickest to process what had just happened. "Heard you were with Aubrey. What for?"

"It's none of your business really," Kat sassed, turning away, "but since you asked it's because ninetails are very learned creatures."

"Hah! That's even more pathetic than Kieren thinking he can be a leader," mocked Samantha with her edgy sass voice as she surfaced from the depths of the lake, her new trademark habit.

"Explanation please?" Trent demanded; his voice revealing his annoyance.

"Easy!" Samantha replied unfazed to Trent's harsh tone, "Learned creatures are losers!"

Drake turned to face her. He bent his neck downward close to her face and narrowed his eyes, revealing hints of anger beginning to boil, yet restrained by the maturity his eyes now seemed to possess. "You got something against learned creatures?" he asked in a dark, threatening, but collected tone. Samantha's face paled to ice.

"Uh…no," she said nervously before darting off across the lake, whipping her tail against the surface to escape the shelled beast.

"That's what I thought!" Drake roared with his signature cool, earning laughs from the eevee and flareon that stood around him.

"Well I'm off to take a nap," said Kat. "See you all later." With a twist of her head she trotted off back into her cove underneath the cliff and out of sight.

"Well something just crossed my mind, and I would like to study it more myself," said Drake. "Catch ya next time." Without wasting a second he dove down into the water and disappeared from sight.

"Trent, you mind if we talk some more?" Andy asked upon Drake's disappearance with a trace of seriousness in his voice.

"Sure," Trent answered as the two began to make stride, Connor and Paige trailing behind.

* * *

"Can't you stop this thing?" Kieren screamed while clasping his nails sharply into the tough material, barely able to hold on as the rush of air yanked on his fur and tried to shake him from his grasp. How he managed to be clinging to the rooftop of a golf cart would have been anyone's guess, but there was only one thing on his mind: This mini-transporter-thingy needed to stop! ASAP!

"I let go of the pedal but it isn't slowing down!" cried a panicking Melody from below.

"What happens if you tap it again?" Kieren shouted against the noise of the motor.

"I'll try it!" Melody answered desperately. She tapped on the pedal again, causing the cart to lunge forward again nearly throwing Kieren airborne. Upon the shock of the sudden speed-up and Kieren's frantic screams Melody began to swerve the vehicle, tossing Kieren's body back and forth behind his front paws.

"Melody!" Kieren cried, "Look Out for that pit!"

Melody spun the wheel sharply to the left, attempting to avoid the giant gap in the ground ahead of them. Suddenly, she began to feel the cart rising in the air, before everything hit.

Kieren was the first to get up and shake off the impact. He now stood on the other side of the pit after tumbling to a halt in the grass. He looked up to see the vehicle - the same vehicle whose ceiling he had just been riding on after being flung from his seat next to Melody - laying on its side in the pit, which Kieren now realized was maybe only two or three feet deep and filled with sand. He approached the crash site to ensure Melody was alright. Before he arrived, however, she popped her head out of the pit.

Kieren couldn't help but crack up in laughter when he saw Melody. Her face and belly were caked with sand saturated by the sprinkler system that had been running minutes before. Melody simply stood there, paralyzed with embarrassment.

"Ready to ditch that thing?" Kieren joked.

"Yea," Melody answered without hesitantion as she turned towards a nearby pond. Kieren watched amused as she finicked about in the water awkwardly trying to figure out how to rinse herself.

"I can tell you don't do this very often," Kieren told her with a laugh as he waded into the water and slapped his tail on the surface, effectively splashing Melody in the face.

"Being this dirty is quite a rare experience for me," she huffed, wiping her face against her tails. "Normally a flame wash or a tail wipe does the trick." Her face blushed as Kieren chuckled some more. "Hey! This isn't the worst mess I've been in!"

"Really?" Kieren asked, tossing water at her underbelly removing the last bits of sand. The two turned back towards land.

"Yep, although I was still really young at the time," said Melody now beginning to maintain control over her embarrassment.

"Well what happened?" Kieren asked, quite excited to hear one of the vulpix's rare adventures.

"Well… my family was invited to some kind of business party or something," Melody began as the two of them hopped out of the pond. "We were up on the third floor in some large room. I had decided to wander around and explore the area like I usually did at these events, so as I was sniffing one of the plants, I caught a little human girl's attention. She was maybe seven or eight."

"And how old were you?" Kieren asked as he grabbed his bag from the sideways vehicle.

"I was six," Melody answered with steady recollection.

"Was the girl nice?" Kieren asked.

"She was very nice; in fact I still visit her periodically. She works at a pastry shop on the other side of town."

"So what happened next?"

"Well, she decided to give me a taste of the various snacks. Again, something that usually happened at these sort of events," Melody explained. "Then we decided to play around a little bit. She and her friends made a game out of chasing me around and trying to catch me in their arms. Eventually the little girl caught me and picked me up. She then carried me around and showed me all the decorations and such as well as introduced me to all her friends again."

"What was the girl's name?"

"Lexi. Why? Do you know her?" Melody asked a bit surprised.

"Nope," Kieren answered defiantly. "Keep going."

"Well, Lexi's mother is really overprotective, so while Lexi was carrying me around, her mom walked in with a huge party cake."

"How huge?" Kieren asked turning towards her.

"Bigger than me."

"Dang." Kieren blinked trying to picture such a size.

"Yea…she could barely walk with the thing, especially in her fancy outfit."

"I wouldn't doubt it."

"Well as soon as she saw me in Lexi's arms, she _FREAKED_ , which caused her to trip on her heels and dump the cake all over us, which then freaked me out because I had no idea what the heck happened."

"I'll bet," said Kieren in agreement. "So what did you do?"

"Well, I was scared so badly I went running wildly across the room and out the patio door."

"Instincts kicked in, huh?" Kieren related to his friend between her pauses.

"Uh huh. I ended up dashing off the ledge of the patio and broke two of my tails on the ground below.

Kieren cringed upon the picture in his head, but then smiled. "Is that how you ended up at the Pokemon Center?" he conjectured.

"Perhaps," Melody admitted with a blush, causing Kieren to chuckle. Melody shied away.

"Hey, don't worry about it. You gave me a really good idea for the Lunar Festival," Kieren exclaimed.

"Really? What's that?" Melody asked with a new curious tone of voice.

"Cake drop roulette!" Kieren chirped. Melody shook her head at the ridiculousness of the idea. "You have to admit, it would be quite a sight," Kieren argued. "So how do we play this game thing?"

"Well…How about you just watch me do it and then try it," Melody suggested, unsure how she would explain everything to Kieren when she was trying it for the first time herself.

She grabbed a tee, stuck it in the ground, and balanced a ball on top. She then bit into the softened material on one end of a club, raised it in the air so that the metal end hovered just over the ground's surface, spun about in a circle and, with a loud _'CRACK'_ , sent the ball soaring off into the distance. The ball landed several hundred feet away on the right side of the striped super-short grass.

Kieren then tried to mimic her actions, placing his ball on the tee, grabbing a similar club from his own bag, swinging it around, and hearing a crack as his club made contact with the ball. The ball went flying, although his veered to the left side of the striped grass a little farther than Melody's ball.

"Not bad," Kieren said to himself, satisfied. This was _MUCH_ better than the mini-super-transporter-thingy ride.

Two holes later, Kieren began to believe he finally understood this game, and he wasn't doing too badly either, at least in his opinion. It was surprisingly a rather relaxing activity. The trees were green and fresh. White clouds drew various abstract figures in the sky. Even the grass with its bizarre dark and light stripes felt peaceful and serene.

Melody wasn't feeling the same way though. At first Kieren presumed that she was still upset about the golf cart. After all, it was her dream to learn to drive the world's super-transporter-things and she probably wasn't expecting such a steep learning curve. However, there was something else bothering her. She kept glancing over at him, squinting, as if trying to read his mind. Kieren ignored it for several minutes as he focused on the scenery around him and the relaxing game that he was beginning to admire, but he began to grow curiously more aware of Melodies inquisitive behavior.

"Kieren?" Melody finally spoke, breaking the stretch of silence that had previously flourished between them.

"Huh?" Kieren turned, wondering what had caught Melody's fascination.

"Who was your grandfather?" Melody queried.

"Wha…Why do you ask?" Kieren staggered. The sudden out-of-the-blue question that had somehow managed to plague Melody's mind had taken him aback.

"Celestia told me you have your grandfather's blood in you. What does that mean?" Melody asked shyly.

"I don't know…" Kieren paused as he tried to recall his grandfather. "My grandfather left when I was little. I hardly knew him, other than the fact that he was a flareon."

"Oh," said Melody with a trace of guilt in her voice as she felt she may have encountered another uneasy topic. Kieren however was trying to interpret what Celestia meant, assuming what Melody said was true.

"My grandfather's blood…" he said to himself. "Huh. The only time I really remembered about his personality was right before he left. He came up to me that day and was like 'I'm takin' an offer as part ev de elite four. Dey're really gonna teach me some real battlin' skills. I see a hole in dis tribe 'nd I need te learn how te fillit.'"

"A hole? What hole?" Melody interrupted.

"He never said," Kieren answered, watching his ball role across the grass to later disappear with a 'cling.' "Speaking of holes, what is the parahole-thingy for this hole?" he asked, laughing at his own word conventions.

Melody pulled out a sheet. "Umm… This is…" She glanced up at the flagpole in front of her. "5."

"Hey, I tailowed it," Kieren cheered.

"Tailowed?" Melody asked blankfaced.

"What, you never seen a tailow?" Kieren asked, turning back. Melody shook her head. "Oh yea that's right. Your family always leaves for your whatchamacallit vacation-thing that week," Kieren recalled.

"What week?" Melody asked, blinking several times.

"The migration games. A bunch of migrating pokemon travel through the reserve and our tribe always spends a week to host a bunch of games while everyone is together. One of the teams is a flock of tailow. Man do they have some insane enthusiasm. Heh. It was one of those weeks that my grandfather left," Kieren recalled. Melody watched with interest as Kieren attempted to mimic his grandfather again. " 'You be good now, Kieren. Don't let anyone tell ya you can't whatever. Yer a Bluestripe. You can do more dan your father will ever dream.' I remember he turned around and laughed as he headed off, saying, 'Hehe. And at de rate yer father's learnin', dat may be an understatement.' …I kinda always hoped he's right."

"Wow, Kieren. I can't imagine what kind of family line you come from." Melody exclaimed, wonder spread across her face.

"What do you mean?" Kieren asked, not comprehending her sudden awe.

"Well it seems obvious that before your father your family was teeming with strong leaders, like Celestia, or even greater!" Melody sang. Kieren paused upon hearing the words.

"Yea. I wish I knew what forms they all picked," Kieren responded disenchantedly.

"That reminds me," Melody perked, "there was something else I wanted to ask you."

"What would that be?" Kieren asked.

"Celestia warned me before the ceremony that you have your grandfather's blood, which meant that unlike your father you probably wouldn't have made your decision in time for the ceremony." Melody paused in contemplation. "Not to offend you, but I always thought that taking too long always resulted in trouble."

"Did Celestia tell you her story?" asked Kieren despondently.

"No. Did she have trouble with the decision too?" Melody asked, shocked.

"Uh huh," Kieren nodded, "She told us that during the ceremony, and my guess is that she also went to this Zach person or maybe the warden or someone from that family. There must be some connection."

"You mean there must be a reason why the warden is the warden of the land of your tribe? I think you might be on to something" Melody suggested.

Kieren nodded as he took a shot at his ball and watched it bounce off a pathway with a click and land on the really short grass, or the "green" as Melody called it. He found it quite amusing, yet it was satisfying at the same time. As he reached for his bag, Melody spoke again, oblivious to Kieren's bizarre accomplishment.

"Wait, so does that mean that you're following the tradition of your alpha ancestors?"

"It's possible," Kieren said with a shrug, but the more he thought about it, the more he wondered: Had he been on the path to becoming an alpha this whole time?

* * *

 **Author's Note:** **If you like the story and want more sooner, all you got to do is leave a simple review. Otherwise PM me and I'll give you a step by step guide on how to erase the history of these last 12 chapters so that you aren't reminded you browsed here the next time you start typing in your browser's URL bar. PM me if you have questions about anything I might know. (Check my profile page. I try to make it as readable as this story.) You can also PM me to read and review your story. Enjoy the summer, and stay safe! ~Dreaming I'm Latios**


	13. 13) Kat-tastrophe

**Author's Note:**

 **I hope you have been enjoying the longer chapters. I have finally got around to posting my chapter upload policies to my profile page. You will definitely want to check that out and then review the previous chapter proper! I still don't know if it is worth writing long chapters that may or may not make you laugh, so let me know if I did so I know to write more like it in the future. This chapter takes a little more serious route.**

 **Today is 7/25/15 and this chapter is 3200+ words.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon, just dream it.**

* * *

Chapter 13: KAT-tastrophe

The shadows of the trees began to stretch and undo themselves as the sun began its descent over the horizon's edge. It was approximately five-thirty as the group of eevee and flareon walked along a well-worn path that traversed through their homeland.

"So what makes you so curious about Kat anyways?" one of the flareon asked the other.

"I don't know. I guess I miss that brave soul of hers. She had a lot of potential, and it would be awesome if there was a way to get her old self back while Kieren's gone. Has Kat ever talked to you about what she wants to do?"

"Not within these last two days. I don't really talk to her unless Kieren is around."

"She isn't planning on leaving here is she?" one of the eevee behind asked with a feminine voice.

"If she does, she's crazy! She can't survive out there," the other eevee answered matter-of-factly.

"You'd be surprised, Connor," the one flareon remarked.

"What do you mean? Trent?"

"Kat is incredibly independent. Very few things stop her from doing what she wants."

"She used to hang out with us when we were in training," the other flareon added. "She was probably the bravest of all of us and was pretty tough too. Suddenly though, she just stopped showing up to training and became very distant from everyone."

"She said she no longer had any reason to train and refused to say anything more. That's when Samantha exploded and made a mess of everything."

"Hey. I remember that!" Connor exclaimed. "She didn't defend herself either, just walked away and disappeared.

"She said, 'I'm not one for blood baths,' when she walked off," the other flareon recalled.

"Right Andy. The reason she quit training was likely really personal and our curiosity probably wasn't helping, but of course no one thought of that," Trent informed them. Andy drooped his head in sorrow in realization.

"What about Celestia? Why didn't she do anything?" the female eevee asked.

"Perhaps Celestia was related to what caused her to quit, otherwise Celestia either would have made a fuss, or would have provided some explanation to our training group," Trent answered.

"Do you think Celestia would talk about it?" the eevee suggested.

"That's not a bad idea, Paige," Andy noted.

"It would certainly pass time while Kat's sleeping. Let's go!" Trent decided.

The four of them walked onwards through the winding paths underneath the trees that filtered the late sun's rays. As they neared their destination, they spotted luscious vines that ornamented the area. Before long, they reached their alpha's home. The sound of a waterfall could be heard nearby, along with the taste of moisture in the air. The leaves and vines draped over the home from the large trees above, which made up much of the home's shelter.

"Well good evening young ones," spoke a distinguished feminine voice. "What brings you all here?"

"Why hello, Celestia," one of the flareon responded. "Are we interrupting anything?"

"Not at all, Andy," Celestia answered with a friendly smile. "I was actually just thinking of all of you." She shifted her gaze across the group until she reached Trent. "Trenton, I must say you really surprised me in your decision to become a flareon. How have you been? Are you comfortable?"

"I've been doing well, thank you. The transition has been quite seamless," Trent answered in formal gesture.

"That is great to hear, Trent," Celestia responded. "So back to my original question, what brings you all here?"

Andy was first to respond. "Your daughter has been acting different lately, and we were wondering if you knew anything about it? …that you wouldn't mind sharing of course."

Celestia's face retracted in bewilderment at the mention of her daughter.

"Katherine? She's not getting into trouble is she?"

"Not that we are aware of," Trent answered.

"Then what has she been doing that has caught your attention so suddenly?"

"We found out today she has been spending time with Aubrey," Trent answered, slightly mimicking Celestia's shocked expression.

"It sounded like she wanted to become learned or something," Andy added.

"Perhaps," Celestia sighed. "Katherine is a lost child. She rarely says a word to me these days."

"Not event when she comes home for bed or leaves in the morning?" Paige asked.

"No, Paige. Katherine has not even touched her bed since she quit training. I rarely see her outside formal events."

"Whaat?" the two eevee exclaimed simultaneously. Andy and Trent turned to each other, both wearing a face of shock.

"Do you know why she quit?" Connor asked.

"She wasn't satisfied with the idea of becoming a warrior. That is for certain," Celestia spoke with a sarcastic-sounding voice. "I don't know what other option she has besides being lost like she has been. …Unfortunately there is nothing else I can tell you about her," she told them with a sigh.

"If we discover anything would you like us to inform you?" Trent asked.

"It is none of my concern anymore," Celestia answered abruptly. "Is there anything else I can do for you?"

"No, but thank you for your time," Andy answered.

"Take care," Celestia returned with a huff as she turned around and disappeared inside her home. The four made haste to leave the vicinity.

"Wow," Trent exclaimed after reaching a safe distance away from the alpha's home, "I can see why Kat became so isolated.

"What makes you say that?" Andy asked.

"Celestia's last comment that her daughter wasn't of her concern is a bit off for a parent to say. Don't you think?"

"But she sounded like she had a good plan for Kat," Paige pitched in. "It sounds like it's Kat's issue."

"Celestia didn't tell us the whole story," Trent argued.

"How do you know that?" Andy asked. His tail flickered in a new pattern as an expression of his surprise.

"Well for one thing Celestia's sudden change of attitude told me that there was likely some kind of argument between her and Kat. Also don't you think that if Kat was truly lost, she would have told us so and why? And probably would have gotten a little more respect for her decision to withdraw from training?"

"That's true. She was quite open back then. Dang, Trent. Where did you learn to be so sharp? "

"Future officer you're talking to," Connor pepped in, teasingly.

"Anyways, back to the topic before I forget my thought," Trent began. "Kat couldn't be open about something if it brought shame to the alpha. She would have lost all respect she had built up, although despite her cautions I don't think she planned on Samantha going off on her."

"This makes sense. Hmmm," Andy mused. "I feel bad for leaving her with Kieren."

Trent sighed as he stared at his feet depressing the sand into the earth with each step he took. He had hoped the commotion of Kat might have brought Kieren up to the same light, but now realized it had done the opposite, for it was when Kieren left that Kat began to act up so suddenly.

"So what do you think Kat really wanted?" Paige asked, disrupting Trent's dismal trance.

"I'm not exactly sure," he answered, quickly recovering, "but my gut tells me she wanted something more distinguished than being a warrior. Her parting comment to Samantha fits the theory too."

"'I'm not one for blood baths'," Andy recalled. "That certainly fits with what Celestia told us, yet whatever she wanted, she was training for it. While the whole learning thing makes sense, why just now?"

"Something recent must have given her some new motivation," Trent answered thoughtfully after a short pause.

"What could that be?" Paige asked.

"The poachers!" a voice answered.

* * *

The meadows were brilliant and vibrant in the mid-day sun out on the edge of Eon city. Soft pridging of the pidgey relayed the relaxed atmosphere of the afternoon.

"Yea. I was a little surprised too," a young eevee conversed with his vulpix friend, the two of them each carrying bags filled with golf clubs as they set out towards their next destination, hole 17.

"What did the others think about his decision?" the vulpix asked.

"I never heard, but watch Caleb not even come near him anymore," Kieren joked.

"Oh my gosh, I can just picture Trent walking along by the garden and Caleb jumping out shouting, 'SAVE THE PLANTS!' and just tackling Trent out of nowhere," Melody spoke, laughter carried with her speech.

"Yea, except he would probably burn himself because he practically is a plant," Kieren cracked. The two burst out laughing as they reached the tee-box for hole 17. "Let's see," Kieren thought aloud. "If I can hit it low enough to go under that tree, than I can let it bounce up and roll down that hill to the left so I don't have to worry about that second tree at the top of the hill." Melody watched in disbelief as Kieren spun around in a circle before launching his ball out and beyond. The ball neared the first tree but instead of bouncing off the grass underneath as Kieren hoped, it bounced off one of the tree's long roots, which caused the ball to rocket off towards the second tree. An echoed ' _PFT_ ' was heard as the ball pinged against the second tree and bounced down the hill to the left. "Close enough," Kieren remarked. Melody sighed and shook her head. Kieren was doing way better than she was, and she was starting to feel a little embarrassed.

Melody took her shot and was delighted to see that her ball made it to the top of the hill and out of the way of the trees, which was all she wanted. "That made me nervous," she commented.

"So how has your family been?" Kieren asked as the two began to march off towards the trees.

"Well my father has been busy refinancing everything after the Evelescence Ceremony."

"Well what about your brother?"

"He's been playing in town the last few days before school starts."

"Your brother goes to school?" Kieren asked, lifting his head back in surprise.

"Yea. Some pokemon researchers wanted to see if a Pokemon that talked could do well in a school with humans. It is an honor really that they think of my brother that intelligently," Melody beamed.

"Interesting. Didn't your mother want to teach or something?" Kieren asked, jogging his recollection.

"Yea," Melody answered. "She's pushing forward with the idea more than ever."

"Isn't she busy with sales?"

"Well she used to be, but because business with the reserve has become pretty well established lately, she has had more free time. She was hoping to start a school for Pokemon that wanted to become learned rather than battle. Which reminds me," Melody paused, looking down at the earth beneath her, "she mentioned something last night during the ceremony about starting math lessons today with Kat. That's probably why I missed so much of the ceremony."

"Hold on, Kat?" Kieren asked in shock.

"That's what I heard," Melody confirmed. "I know, right? I couldn't pay attention after…"

"Then she wasn't kidding," Kieran interrupted.

"Huh?" Melody gasped, reorganizing her thoughts. "Kidding about what?"

Kieren inhaled a long breath of the relaxed summer air, calming himself before dropping the bomb on his friend. "Kat wants to learn telekinesis."

"WHAT!" Melody exploded. She eyed him carefully looking for a hint that Kieren was messing with her.

Kieren nodded to confirm his statement.

Melody's face lifted up in both shock and near-laughter. "Seriously? So first Caleb wants to become a tree, and now Kat wants to become a psychic?" Kieren nodded again as she spoke. "Oh my gosh! So what do you think Celestia will do?"

"Won't be a factor," Kieren contended.

"Why not?" Melody asked with sudden concern.

"Melody," Kieren exhaled shaking his head, "the two haven't spoken a word to each other for months."

"What?" Melody gasped again. Her tails nearly unfurled to the tips. "You need to tell me this story! Now!"

"Alright, alright," Kieren gave in. "I'm kinda surprised you don't already know, but I will warn you, that family is not all pride and glory. It started one day during training, or more specifically, Battle Day, where all the eevee faced off in a double elimination tournament. Kat was on fire that day. She single-handedly took out Caleb, Andy, and Samantha and even beat out Trent in the finals to win the whole thing."

"She was that good?"

"Yea. She was a helluva force. She went home that day with her trophy…"

* * *

"Mom, I'm home!" yelled a young Kat.

"I'm coming," responded a motherly Celestia upon hearing the news. "Oh my! What is that?"

"I won the Battle Tournament! Mom!" Kat declared excitedly.

"Kat. That is awesome! You are going to make a fine warrior someday."

"A warrior?" Kat whimpered. Her enthusiasm subsided upon hearing the word.

"What? You don't want to be a warrior?" Celestia asked a bit horrified by the sudden change of behavior.

"I want to be a leader," Kat answered, "like you, Mom." Celestia's face saddened.

"Kat. You know already that your brother will be the next alpha."

"Can't I be one too?"

"I'm sorry. Only one alpha can come from our family. That's the rule," Celestia admitted.

"Oh…" Kat answered, frowning, but she returned to her giddy smile with another thought. "Well where else can I be a leader?" she asked, regaining her same excited cheerful attitude.

"What do you mean?" Celestia asked confused, having believed she had ended the discussion.

"Aren't there other leaders, too? I mean…maybe not as important as an alpha, but still a leader, like…the officers?"

"What's wrong with being a warrior?" Celestia asked in astonishment.

"All they do is fight," Kat complained. "I mean, fighting is kinda cool, but there is so much more I could do if I were a leader. I could be a strategist, distract enemies and send in a secret ambush unit, or I could go on special missions to trade with and befriend distant tribes…"

"No!" Celestia scowled. "Kat. You can't. The best you can be is a warrior. You weren't born to be a leader."

"What do you mean I wasn't born to be a leader? I am your daughter you know, and I am willing to do anything to be a leader. Can't I at least try?"

"Katherine! You can't be a leader and that's that," Celestia responded sternly.

"Well what if I became the strongest warrior in the tribe. I would be in charge of something then, right?"

"It doesn't work that way, Katherine!" Celestia answered with annoyance.

"Why? At least let those who work really really hard be in charge of something!"

"I'm not changing anything because of your stupid little dream, Kat."

"You get to be a leader. Solano gets to be a leader. And when I want to be a leader it is a stupid little dream?"

"I'm not going to argue with you anymore!" Celestia screamed.

"Fine!" Kat answered. She took a deep breath and regained her composure, before speaking softly. "I am going out to the cove on the other side of the lake to calm down. Come by when you are ready so we can talk about my future, because if I can't be a leader, then I don't know what I want to be anymore." Kat began to walk off slowly, using every part of her willpower to maintain what composure she could muster. It did not prevent the tears that leaked from her eyes from falling down her furry cheeks.

"You'll be waiting forever!" Celestia screamed. "My answer will never change!"

"My offer still stands," Kat spoke, trying not to stutter as she departed. "When you become a real leader that can give your own daughter a better future than a bloodthirsty fighter, come find me." With those last words she disappeared out of sight.

"You weren't serious when you told her you would never come?" Solano approached from behind.

"I was damn right serious!" Celestia snarled.

"My gut tells me you'll regret this one day, but I am sure you have more important things on your mind. I will make supper."

"Fine. You still have things to learn, but at least you aren't lost like her," Celestia huffed before returning to her room behind the draped foliage.

* * *

Back on Eon Cityside Country Club stood a very bewildered and heartbroken vulpix. In her gaze was the eevee that had faithfully recaptured the story he had learned so well over the past years he had spent with Celestia's daughter. Boran wasn't the only alpha Kieren wanted to overthrow, but that was outside his power, at least that he believed.

After a moment of silence between the two and a successful birdie putt by Kieren which helped distract his mind from the depressing story he had just told his best friend, Melody brought herself together to ask what she wanted to know in the first place.

"So why does Kat all of a sudden want to become a psychic now? It is kind of sudden of her after all these years."

"You remember the poachers, right?" Kieren asked, quickly responding to her question.

"Yea. You guys were having a lot of trouble with a metagross," Melody recalled.

"Right. A psychic tore right through nearly every tactic we threw at it."

"Kat told you this right after I left when my father called, didn't she," Melody postulated. Kieren nodded.

"With that kind of power, Kat would easily be able to unsettle if not disrupt the tribe," Kieren explained.

"Why would Kat want to do that? Won't everyone hate her?" Melody asked, concerned by the logic of everything going on.

"Kat's concern is Celestia. Celestia prefers to play with numbers, which would put an end to anyone that opposed her."

"Except psychics!" Melody exclaimed. "I see her rationale, but is such a feat possible?"

"A metagross did it," Kieren answered.

"No, no," Melody dismissed, "I meant is it possible for an eevee to learn and master psychic powers?"

"I doubt it," Kieren answered, sulking his head. "Unless there is more power in our species than I know of…which who knows at this point. I've already learned there are a couple of secrets in our tribe." He quickly snapped his head back towards Melody. "Anyways, I kinda wanna finish up this game so we can go see that Zach kid," he said to her, gaining excitement. "I wanna know what he thinks of me."

"Well this is the last hole," Melody added.

"Exactly, and I am already on the green!" Kieren bragged.

"Shut up. I will be closer to the hole once I hit the ball out of the sand," Melody teased.

"Not if I beat you to the green," Kieren challenged. The two of them bolted off, filled with excitement for what was to come. Kieren arrived first, and was prepared to sink his putt before Melody could hit her ball out of the sand.

"One more tailow for the win!" Kieren crowed as he danced about attempting to bring a laugh out of his friend.

"KIEREN! LOOK OUT!" Melody screamed.

It was too late.

A large pain pounded through his head before everything went black.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** **We are starting to get into the chapters I haven't revised as much, so let me know if you spot any mistakes (I spotted quite a few from last upload)! Everything you need to know about me and my policies are on my profile page. I tried to make it very organized. I hope you are enjoying your summer. Only a few weeks left before I disappear for a while, so let's make them count! ~Dreaming I'm Latios**


	14. 14) Raging Blood

**Author's Note:**

 **Welcome back to another weekly update! Let me tell you this chapter was incredibly difficult to write, so hopefully I did it justice.**

 **Fair warning: This chapter describes in detail some RATHER VIOLENT events in the story. Before we jump into that though, I would like to recap and get everyone up to speed. If you like riddles and enjoy picking up the little details I've buried in this story, I suggest you skip the rest of this A.N. and jump straight to the chapter.**

* * *

 ** _Dear Phillip: While most of your reviews were just short of bonus chapter material, I decided I would take a moment and clarify some confusion you and other readers may have. I looked back through Ch 12 and I was not able to find anything where either Kieren or Melody said anything about Celestia meeting Zach aside from the speculation at the end of the story. If this still bothers you, can you point to where you found this?_**

 **Allow me to recap some of the more important details so far:**

 ** _The entire tribe knows Celestia struggled to make her evolution decision. It is implied she also left for 5 days just as Kieren would do._**

 ** _Kieren suspects that it is an Alpha tradition that during these 5 days, they are to meet Zach or a family member to help make their decision. Back in the valley, Drake has revealed to Trent that this is indeed the case._**

 ** _Trent, Andy, Paige, Connor, Drake, Celestia, Melody, and Kieren all know Kat is studying with Aubrey, Melody's mother._**

 ** _Trent, Andy, Paige, and Connor know Kat's reason for quitting training had something to do with a personal event. Trent suspects it was the result of an argument between Celestia and Kat based on the two's animosity towards each other._**

 ** _Trent was not able to figure out why Kat started acting up, but received a hint it was related to the poacher's from a surprise voice._**

 ** _Kieren told Melody the actual story of Kat and Celestia's argument._**

 ** _Melody warned Kieren too late and everything went back._**

 **Of course there's even more details buried in the previous chapters for you to uncover!**

* * *

 **Today is 8/1/2015 and this chapter is 2700+ words.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon, just dream it.**

* * *

Chapter 14: Raging Blood

"Who are you?" Paige asked boldly at the hill which possessed the unknown voice.

"That isn't important," the voice answered dismissively.

"Well then tell us how the poachers have anything to do with this," Connor demanded, taking a battle stance as he stared up at the top of the hill concealed with thick trees and bushes.

"Very well," the voice replied. "It was when the poachers attacked that Katherine discovered a new purpose in life, and true to herself she is pursuing it vigorously."

"Do you know what exactly inspired her?" Trent asked. Contemplation could be heard in his words.

"She saw Celestia panic," the voice replied. "Now if you will excuse me, I would like to continue my research. The poachers left behind something accidentally that may be of use to the tribe."

"Thank you for your insights," Trent responded, now fully understanding what the voice implied about the poachers and Kat. He turned back towards his company.

"So what does this all mean?" Paige asked, both confused and impatient.

"Well for starters it confirms that the issue involves tension between Kat and Celestia like I thought," Trent responded thoughtfully.

"I get it. Kat saw a weakness in Celestia and wants to exploit it," Andy stated.

"But how is she going to do that?" Paige asked.

"We know it involves learning, right?" Connor suggested.

"Doesn't this also suggest that her plan has something to do with the cause of Celestia's panic?" Andy postulated. "I mean it seems odd that just seeing Celestia panic was enough to bring her out of her shell."

"The poachers," Connor pitched.

"Wait, we're back to the poachers?" Paige asked.

"The poachers had something that made Celestia panic that perhaps Kat can obtain through learning?" Trent paraphrased.

"This doesn't have to do with that meta-thing and its psychic powers, does it?" Paige inquired.

"You might be on to something, Paige," Andy responded.

"Kat become a psychic? She isn't that crazy, is she?" Connor argued.

"But it would help explain why she wants to become learned. After all ninetails from what I have heard are capable of some psychic power," Paige reasoned, finally on page with the others and connecting the pieces together.

"Well, Trent," Andy turned. "Since you managed to uncover most of this case for us, do you think it is possible for an eevee to become a psychic?"

"At this rate, I can no longer say," Trent answered. "It wouldn't be the first thing that has been hidden from us considering we just uncovered a dispute between Kat and Celestia." Trent looked down at the ground, trying to tie all the ends together. "And from the way Drake acted, there is something we don't know yet," he paused and stiffened straight upon realization. "Kieren might be learning these things right now!"

"Whaa?" Paige asked startled by Trent's sudden exclamation.

"Kieren was told by the lapras to visit the human owner of the reserve shortly before the ceremony yesterday," Trent explained to them. "Drake told me it's an alpha tradition."

"Are you saying Kieren is actually going through a rite of passage to become an alpha?" Connor asked with shock.

"Correct. And I hope he succeeds so he can uncover this whole m…"

Trent didn't have a chance to finish before he found himself pressed down on his back by an angry flareon that hissed right in his face, making sharp eye contact that imposed a death threat to any retaliation.

"Trenton have you lost your mind?" the Flareon growled as if desperately trying to find a real Trent underneath a disguise of dilusion. "Kieren is the blood of the jolteon that nearly destroyed our tribe with stupidity! Who's to say Kieren won't do the same!" Trent gritted his teeth in rejection. The flareon leaned in closer, lowering his voice. He glanced over at Trent's hind leg before staring a deadly gaze into Trent's eyes. "Kieren has scarred you once. Don't let him do it again!"

Trent never flinched. With a quick twist of his tail, he pushed his back into the air, rendering his opposition off balance. With a quick kick he threw the flareon off of himself and quickly rolled to his feet.

"You have no comprehension of the things that are occurring this very instant!" Trent roared as he regained his stance. "If you can't disclaim the lie of the curse of Boran's blood, then this tribe will collapse under the weight of its own secrets! I'm wasting my time with you now," Trent snarled as he dashed off into the deeper forest.

* * *

"Ugh. So Bluestripe was the one who leaked intelligence to those varmint thieves?" Kieren could hear one say with disgust. He had been walking up to where the others had gathered for training on the cliff when he heard the conversation come about.

"Dammit father, what did you do this time?" Kieren mumbled to himself. From what Kieren had gathered for the last few months, his father was up on a rough patch. It first started with sporadic arguments between Celestia and the alpha Bluestripe. Then his father suddenly disappeared for two days with Solano. Lately he was struggling negotiating with some outsiders in the area, and was periodically disappearing and neglecting his duties.

"Yea. Dem furret duped him good," answered another.

The furret were the most recent outsiders and had recently moved in next to the forest reserve.

"God dammit he's gonna get our whole tribe killed if he keeps this up! First he starts this whole war, and then he goes out and leaks intelligence and almost gets Celestia killed!" piped a third voice.

Kieren uncomfortable with the situation peaked his head over the rocks that separated him from the group.

"The Lunar Family Line needs to DIE!" shouted one of the flareon training sergeants.

"Samantha's father," Kieren thought. Ugh, ever since Samantha went off on Kat, Kieren's world had gone haywire.

"Yea! I don't need no more Bluestripe killing off our tribe!" a jolteon complained.

"Who's the next heir anyways?" asked another flareon. "Paige's mom," Kieren noted.

"Kieren. Why?" asked what Kieren believed to be Connor's mother, a slick blue vaporeon.

"We should kill him!" growled the male flareon menacingly. His eyes reflecting the fire of rage he built inside of him.

"Are you serious?" the vaporeon gasped.

"Yea. I don't need another Bluestripe becoming an Eon Alpha," the jolteon butted in.

"I'm in!" spoke the female flareon with a businesslike tone.

"Me too!" pitched in one of the older eevee. The other eevee around them chimed in.

Kieren desperately tried to withdraw himself into the rocks that separated him from his tribemates' wandering eyes.

"Hold on!" screamed the vaporeon, silencing all the commotion. "Shouldn't we at least give him a chance to swear out of his Alpha birthright? Why shed blood if we don't have to."

"That's not a bad idea either," a second jolteon stated. The first one looked at him for a moment, then gave in with a nod.

"I'm all for it," Paige's mother stated.

"Yea! And if he declines, then we kill him!" shouted the male flareon.

"Yea!" shouted many of the eevee. The sharp tones of their voices cut sharply into Kieren's ears.

"Yea!" shouted the entire group. Every one of them, Kieren noticed. Not a single one of them failed to participate in the rising chant of bloodthirsty cheers and roars.

"What are we waiting for! Let's do this right now!" a young voice shouted.

"YEA!" the entire group shouted.

It clicked in Kieren's mind that he was suddenly in danger, huge danger. He was still fairly early in his training and knew he didn't stand a chance if he got discovered. Kieren glanced around looking for an escape route. He noticed that behind the rocks up the cliff stood part of the forest where he could easily hide.

He quickly tested his stealth and agility placing front-paw-back-paw on the cold jagged stones challenging his escape. He looked up and saw a large stone jutting out of the wall. He could either take a daring jump to reach its upper surface, or he could climb around it on the small jagged stones on either side. He decided to go left and grabbed onto the first small stone. It felt stable. He looked up at the forest, his mind racing with fear of the tribe that had cheered to kill him, rip him apart. It was unfathomable how sudden it came and how unprepared he was to die. He had to escape. They were coming! Fear grabbed a hold of his composure, and he took his next three steps quickly, scaling the wall. He was only a step and a leap away from freedom! Suddenly he felt movement in his back left leg. He quickly pushed it to a higher rock, but that rock immediately gave in on him. Completely off balance, he stepped down with his front right to help push up his weight, but the stone he chose again gave way. Having lost most of his support, his left paw failed its grasp. Kieren held his breath and fear-filled dreaded shock. He was falling! When the movement stopped, he looked up to see the angry faces that maliciously stared him down into the earth underneath him.

"Well speak of the devil," the female flareon, Paige's mother, stated maliciously.

Intense chills showered the eevee, discoloring his face and churning his neurons into pure panic. He needed to think fast and get out of there. He looked around, but all he could see were the angry malicious faces now drooling a deadly stare.

"Listen kid," spoke the male flareon as he walked up to Kieren's face. "We're put up with your father's antics and we want to do something about it. You got two choices: Swear to the tribe that you deny your birthright and will never become Alpha, or see the end of your life."

"I hate him too, you know," Kieren mumbled under his breath, hoping he could make them believe he also opposed his father's latest actions. He wasn't lying. His father had turned his life to hell, and now was no exception.

"We all do, but just because you say you hate him doesn't mean we are going to let you become our next Alpha!"

"You aren't serious?" Kieren squeaked, stumbling back.

Suddenly he found himself tumbling across the ground until his body pounded into a hard surface. Regaining his sense of balance, he looked up. He was now twenty feet away from where he was previously standing. He craned his neck to see that he had collided with a rock stained with blood.

His blood.

"I'm DEAD serious, kiddo," his attacker stated, marching towards him. "We're DEAD serious! So what's your preference? Swear or die?"

"Give him a minute to decide! There's no rush!" a jolteon shouted.

"Fine," Kieren's attacker gave in, retreating several steps. Kieren looked down at the ground, unsure of what to do. He had been a trembling mess just moments ago, but the impact had suddenly brought him to heightened senses and clear thinking. Despite this, he was still too young to make such a decision, especially as his head began pounding again from the impact. He felt dripping in his fur underneath his left ear.

"Kieren, don't swear," a voice whispered from behind him. Kieren turned towards the voice. "Don't give in…Be strong…" The owner of the voice had broken into tears. "Be strong…for me…"

The words were clear, yet confusing at the same time, disrupting all other train of thought Kieren had and leaving him so speechless all he could make out was her name.

"Kat."

"Time's up. Made up your mind yet?" Kieren faintly heard the words beneath the pounding of his head and the pain that began to take over. He stood silent, dazed by everything all happening at once. He was scared, terrified. He wanted to cry; pour out all his childhood innocence and leave the place. Perhaps he'd go to his mother and fall asleep in her fur. But that ship had already sailed, and Kieren knew now was not the time for emotions. He had to fight them back if he wanted to live another day.

"Make up your mind already," yelled Kieren's offender, who then went on to slap Kieren across the face with his paw. Almost instantaneously Kieren lowered his head and rammed his oppressor into a nearby rock. As soon as his opposition stood up, Kieren flung his tail and pounded his foe into the rock wall he had tried to climb earlier to escape. He looked up, fighting through the dizziness. Suddenly his vision cleared into intense focus as he glanced at Samantha's father. The flareon laid there, unconscious. Kieren glanced around, hoping he had opened an escape route, or perhaps gathered some respect from his sudden outburst. Where he had gotten such courage from, he had no idea, but as he glanced around, he saw nothing but hatred in the eyes of his tribe.

"Alright!" another member of the mob hissed, the female flareon. "You have had your fun, but we have had enough!" His new opposition charged towards him. Kieren attempted to counter but was blindsided by another member of the mob. Kieren again tried to retaliate and establish space, but was overpowered by a third from behind.

The pain rained. A clawed paw tore across his face, ripping into one of his nostrils and tearing his cheek. Another gashed his stomach. He managed to throw one of his enemies with his tail, but shortly after he felt fur and skin ripped away from his body. Kieren screeched as a part of himself was torn away from him, as air gushed into the open flesh and stung his exposed blood. Fire scorched his back and burned his fur. Electricity zapped his muscles stiff. His heart pounded with intense ferocity. His vision faded in and out in sync with his rasped, heavy breathing. He could feel the pulses of blood escaping through the gashes in his fur, acting like a timer ticking away until it ran out, signaling the end.

His death.

With the little strength he had left, he began to back away. The beating stopped. He now saw his tribe barking and snarling at him. He looked down. A trail of blood was flowing from his body as he retreated.

"What's going on!" a voice called. A few members of the mob turned towards the direction of the sound. "What are you doing to my cousin!"

"Trenton! Stay out of this!" the jolteon snapped.

"Trenton! HELP!" Kieren cried. The pain of his gashes was catching up to him as he broke into tears.

"Get away from him!" Trent cried. He attempted to dash forward but was swept to his side by a sudden blow.

"Stay out of this Trent!"

"NO! I am NOT going to let you KILL MY COUSIN!" Trent screamed. He repeated his endeavor of reaching Kieren but this time was held back by his rear right ankle.

"He refused to surrender his Alpha birthright! We are not going to let another Bluestripe devastate our tribe!"

"Trent!" Kieren cried as he watched Trent's jolteon suppressor crunch down on Trent's ankle. Trent shrieked in pain.

"TRENT!"

Trent was lifted in the air by his nearly broken ankle and was tossed away from the scene where he had entered.

"FINISH HIM ALREADY!"

" **TRENT!** "

The blow came, and Kieren found himself flying over the edge of the cliff. He was falling.

Falling.

Still falling.

It never stopped.

"Kieren? ...Kieren, are you alright?"

Kieren opened his eyes. Slowly the world's colors faded and formed into clear images. Before him was a tall pale human with pinkish red hair and a white hat with a plus sign on it. Next to her was an elated Melody who was quick to speak.

"Kieren! You're awake!" she cried joyfully.

Slowly, the memories of his previous adventures returned to Kieren: the ceremony, the tour through the city, the golf game, and Melody's final warning that had just touched his ears before everything went black. What he had just suffered in his mind was a dream ... a nightmare. A nightmare that he and Trent had once years ago ... somehow ... survived.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** **Yikes! Only two more weeks of chapters? Enjoy your summer. Ok? ~Dreaming I'm Latios**


	15. 15) Magic Moss

**Author's Note:**

 **A short filler chapter this week, so for the bonus chapter I will let you go back and review the last chapter rather than this one. Also next weekend will be my last chapter upload for the summer. This is interesting because the end of the first "arc" if you want to call it that is Ch 17! So play it safe and spam me with reviews that meet the criteria specified on my profile page. It'd be a shame to let the summer end on a cliffhanger!**

 **Also, for those of you who have enjoyed reading deep into the details of the story, this chapter provides a very interesting detail that will make you want to reread Ch 14 and will probably leave you a lot of questions to explore. Happy digging!**

 **Today is 8/8/2015 and this chapter is 1100+ words.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon, just dream it.**

* * *

Chapter 15: Magic Moss

The sun glared at the lake, trying to see its own reflection as several weary clouds floated by. It was a beautiful day, the sky clear of the dark clouds and rain that had plagued the day before. A migrating flock of starly arrived at the lakefront to bathe in the sun-warmed water of late summer noon. Their chirping and the pridging of the pidgeys were the only calls that broke the air-stilled silence encompassing the valley. Not a wisp of wind existed to rattle the leaves, some of which had just exhibited first signs of the changing season. One of the starly took notice of a red lump sprawled out on a nearby dock.

"Rise and shine, Mr. Flareon," it sang, landing next to the creature's flame-patterned fur. The flareon opened its eyes to see a small little bird cock its head to the side in curiosity.

"Huh? A starly?" the flareon questioned. "It must be that time again."

"Sure is Mr. Flareon. Sorry to bother ya, but there's someone I know from here who goes by the name 'Trent'. You know him?"

"That would be me," the flareon answered. "Hey, you wouldn't happen to be Dillon, by any chance?"

Four days had passed since Kieren departed the valley on his quest to find out what element was best for his future. Since then, Trent had tried to uncover more about Kat's secret but to no avail.

"Drake has been busy studying up on something he deems important. I'm afraid he won't come out for a while," Tara had told him three days ago. This morning she had brought him similar news. Kat either was studying with Aubrey or had managed to completely disappear from the forest. Trent didn't dare approach Celestia after his last encounter. Had they stayed any longer, she would have been pissed.

After wasting most of the afternoon catching Dillon up on all the recent events since the migration games six months ago, the flareon realized he had somehow managed to overlook a key resource in unraveling the mysteries. The voice. Yes. Now that he thought about it, he knew that voice from the cliff that had told him, Andy, and the eevee how the poachers fit into the equation.

"Anyone here?" Trent called as he walked along a path that separated patches of flowers and shrubs, all blossomed vibrantly in the sunlight. Dillon had flown off to tell his starly friends about Trent's evolution and stories, so Trent decided now was a good time for more sleuthing.

"Trent?" the familiar voice called back. Following the call approached a taller-than-average heavy-shouldered eevee that made careful stride through the flower-laden fields.

"Sorry to bother you, Caleb, but would you mind if we discuss some things?" Trent asked.

"Certainly," the eevee replied. "I was hoping you would eventually stop by. I have something to show you."

"Great. But before that, there has been something I've been meaning to ask you for a while now," Trent told Caleb anxiously.

"Throw it at me," Caleb welcomed.

"What did Kat want from Celestia?" Trent asked with a serious businesslike tone.

"Before she quit training?"

"Exactly," Trent answered. He allowed all his thoughts to pour out of mouth in an attempt to clear his mind. "It was something she trained for, yet did not conflict for her dislike of 'blood baths' as she confessed after Samantha wreaked havoc. Right now it seems like she is attempting to gain psychic power, likely because it would somehow allow her to obtain what she desired against Celestia's will."

"Did you figure this all out yourself?" Caleb asked in wonder.

"I managed to get a few words from Celestia, and of course your hint helped me make a few more conclusions," Trent confessed.

"Trent! That's incredible!" Caleb praised. "I could really use a brain like you to help with my research, but I will get to that in a second."

"So do you know what Kat wanted?" Trent asked, reverting back to his serious tone.

"Leadership," Caleb stated without batting an eye.

"Leadership?" Trent repeated, wondering if it was really that simple.

"Yea. A leadership role, whether it be an Alpha, an Officer, or something else entirely. She wanted to be a leader."

"A leader," Trent mumbled to himself. He paused to contemplate the sudden revelation. "Thank you Caleb," he said with a sigh of relief. "You have no idea how much that has been bothering me these last few days."

"No problem," Caleb answered with a slight chuckle. "Unfortunately I can't tell you what occurred in the argument for it to result in a bitter end. Only herself and Kieren know that, and maybe Melody the vulpix?" Caleb guessed.

"That's alright. I can take a few guesses based on what Celestia told us." Trent replied, turning his gaze towards the ground. "How did you find out all of this anyways?"

"I was with Kieren when Kat told him she had gotten into an argument with her mother. She asked him if his father could do anything to help her situation."

"And the poachers?" Trent asked, glancing back up at the eevee, who oddly stood with his front paws close together, one in front of the next.

"She told me when we were hanging decorations," the eevee responded.

"Gotcha. Now my only question is whether eevee can actually master psychic power," Trent thought aloud, glancing back down at the bizarre rock beneath him.

"Then it is time I showed you my research," Caleb announced.

"Whaa?" Trent asked looking up. Caleb gestured Trent to follow him down a pathway that split the garden. Suddenly Trent began to feel a faint surge of energy hit him.

Trent stopped at the sudden tingling. "Whoa! What is that?"

"That's my research," Caleb answered. "This energy is coming from some strange moss I discovered on the rail of the poacher's helicopter."

"Helicopter?" Trent asked, never having heard the word before.

"The vehicle the poachers came and escaped in," Caleb hinted.

"How the heck do you know it is called a helicopter?" Trent asked with a comical voice crack.

"You learn things when you make origami in the treetops and show your creations to Melody," Caleb answered with a small chuckle.

"Fair enough," Trent answered, satisfied with the explanation. "By the way, this energy faintly reminds me of my evolution."

"Really?" Caleb asked excitedly. "That's actually what I wanted to ask you. I knew there was something different about it. As I've been growing the moss, I have slowly felt like I am beginning to understand plant energy. It's like this moss is magic or something."

"Magic moss?" Trent asked, somewhat amused.

"Yea…well…whatever," Caleb responded. His voice slowly morphed into a more serious tone. "My point is that I think eevee can master more than three elements, and I believe this moss is the ticket to one of them."

"Interesting," Trent mumbled. "I will keep that in mind. But you're right. That moss is definitely suspicious."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** **Next weekend is the last chapter. The end of the "arc" is Ch 17. The chapter you just read is Ch 15.**

 **15 + next week's chapter = 16.**

 **15 + _Bonus Chapter_ \+ next week's chapter = 17.**

 **Choose your fate!**

 **Save your summer!**

 **~Dreaming I'm Latios**


	16. 16) What Is It?

**Author's Note:**

 **Bonus Chapter! I think next summer I will wait to upload the bonus chapter until midweek or right before my weekly chapter. That way more people will feel inclined to review the weekly chapter before the bonus chapter gets uploaded. Let me know your thoughts and preferences!**

 **Also, I have updated my profile with my school year upload and review policies. They take effect starting with this chapter, since there won't be a bonus chapter after Ch 17.**

 **I'm not entirely sold on some of the dialogue in this chapter pertaining to Kieren's nightmare. It's better than it was though, so it will have to do. Aside from that though, I'm pretty happy with this chapter.**

 **Today is 8/9/2015 and this chapter is 2200+ words.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon, just dream it.**

* * *

Chapter 16: What Is It?

"Kieren! Thank goodness you're alright!"

Kieren didn't have a chance to respond before he was clobbered by Melody's overly affectionate embrace.

"Melody! Stop!" the nurse cried. "His face is still pale."

Melody released her embrace, guilt and disappointment masking her face.

"Don't worry. I'm fine," Kieren told them, adjusting back into his former position before Melody's bear hug attack. "Just a nightmare is all." He took the time to glance around the room some more. The room he was in was encased in a glass frame. Around him were several large structures of bizarre shapes, complete with flashing lights and patterns. The walls outside the glass were painted a solid white, along with the ceiling and floor. Kieren himself was lying on something white and soft, a cushion of sorts; almost like a bed it seemed by its size. Kieren looked down to see strange strings of tubes and wires patched to his body and connecting him to the various oddly shaped mechanisms that surrounded him. He turned his gaze back to the woman next to Melody that began unburdening him from the patched wires.

"Nurse Joy," he thought aloud. "I'm in the Pokemon Center, aren't I." He observed as both Melody and the nurse confirmed his hypothesis with a nod. "What time is it?" he asked.

"It's 10:18 in the morning," Melody answered after glancing at something out of Kieren's sight.

"You've been out for three days," the nurse added, guessing Kieren's question from Melody's answer.

"Three days?" Kieren asked astonished. Suddenly his face hardened as he turned to speak. "Melody! We have to go!" He began to stir from his position, but was pinned down by Joy's firm hands.

"Kieren, you just woke up and still need rest," she told him.

"No!" Kieren screamed as he tried to squirm out of the nurse's grasp.

"Let me take care of this," spoke another voice in the human tongue, causing Kieren to stop and turn towards whoever spoke. In front of Kieren now stood a fairly tall beanpole of a figure with brown hair that covered most of his forehead and ears. His face was ever so slightly freckled. He looked to be about 17 or 18, maybe 19 by Kieren's guess.

"If you insist Zach," the nurse answered the teen's request. The name rang through Kieren's head like a jolteon's morning crackle. Was this the guy?

"Is he the warden's son?" Kieren asked Melody.

Melody translated the question to Joy and the teen, who both responded with a nod. Kieren relaxed his limbs, which in result granted him freedom from the nurse's hands. He slowly raised himself up to his feet, taking a stride and a half toward the teen, staring up and the human he desired to meet ever since he knew the name.

"There, there," said the human in a soft half-whisper as he placed his hands on Kieren's back and gently seated the eevee. He then began to stroke the fur along Kieren's back methodically and lethargically causing Kieren to close his eyes in confort. "Eevee expert" couldn't do justice to the magical fingers the human possessed.

"Now, tell me about this nightmare of yours," the human spoke to the eevee. After a sudden pause of thought, Kieren's eyes blasted open in shock.

"H-how…did you know…I had a…"

"Relax, Kieren" Zach answered while trying to calm the eevee again. "I was born and raised surrounded by your kind. The language came naturally. Now tell me about your dream. You seemed quite shaken from it."

The back massage resumed as Kieren quickly made sense of the situation and shifted his thoughts back to the terrifying event of his past. He drooped his head, recalling how fragile he was during the moments when his life had been nearly taken.

"Was it the time you were attacked?" Melody softly proposed.

Kieren nodded, somewhat relieved by how well his friend understood him.

"You're the next Bluestripe," Zach spoke softly as well. Kieren nodded again. He gave up questioning this Zach kid, although he was answered anyways. "Melody told me the story, and it happened to be one I already knew." Kieren lied down upon dwelling on the story that had scarred him for life. "Kieren," Zach continued in his soft voice. "As hard as it is, you need to stop dwelling on what they did to you. Focus on the bravery you found then. After all, your skill and courage even back then was the reason you survived." Kieren opened one eye and stared at the human. Suddenly he felt like questioning him again. Sure he took out the flareon at the start, but after that he was helplessly torn to pieces, and that was after he failed to climb the rock wall leading to his escape. The massage continued, lulling Kieren's eye back closed as the teen explained himself. "The way you took down that flareon was incredible for such a young eevee at the time. Then went the vaporeon and…"

"Vaporeon?" Kieren asked, slowly opening his eyes.

"Yes. And two eevee on top," Zach answered, delivering a trace of excitement and praise in his quiet voice.

Kieren closed his eyes once again. He recalled the same scene, this time remembering the large mass he threw off of him and slammed into the rocks. He could see the vaporeon clearly, unable to fight, and the eevee next to him with the same fate, pinned underneath the vaporeon. That was when he began to retreat.

"I even made a foolish promise to myself that I would one day train you to incredible potential. I even had a pokeball in hand as you were pushed off the cliff."

"You were there?" Kieren asked in astonishment.

"Yes. My father drove you here to the Pokemon Center. I helped ensure you made it." Zach reached over onto a nearby machine and grabbed a book he must have set on it. He slowly flipped through the pages until he found what he was looking for. He showed the page to Kieren. It was a photograph of Zach, Nurse Joy, a flareon, and a patched up eevee. Kieren knew he was that eevee, covered in stitches and bandages. He was right three days ago when he felt a familiarity with the Pokemon Center. The memories he once believed were dreams returned to him. He focused more closely on the flareon he somehow recognized.

"Grandpa."

Kieren heard Melody stir at his word.

Zach nodded in confirmation. "He planned on visiting you again, but lately he's been busy with Flint tracking down a criminal organization that has popped up lately."

Kieren stood up to obtain a closer view of the photograph. He studied the figures intently, trying to bring the scene to life in his head. Finally he looked down and shook his head.

"It's not me," he mumbled. He allowed his body to crash down again on the bed, despair painted over his face as he stared aimlessly at the adjacent machine with its flashing lights and patterns.

"What are you talking about? Kieren?" Melody interjected.

"I'm talking about why we even came out of the reserve," Kieren answered solemnly. He exhaled deeply, trying to relax the frustration that was beginning to boil in his mind. He then felt the hands of the teen enwrap him and suddenly he was no longer being supported by the bed. He looked up to see he was being cradled up by the teen's arms. Somehow the feeling felt familiar, like it had happened before in his life. As if by muscle memory he allowed his head to rest against the teen's chest, tucking his ears against his cheeks.

"You used to always curl up like this after you woke up in the Pokemon Center," Zach spoke, reflecting on the past. More memories once thought as dreams returned to him, now with clarity. A soft whimper escaped with Kieren's breath as he sighed in comfort of the memories he had with the much younger Zach. "It helped you relax and look past your nightmares. Even back then, I knew the perfect evolution for you when it was your time."

That last part caught Kieren's attention. He lifted his head and perked his ears, now focusing his gaze at Zach's eyes.

"Climb up," Zach instructed him.

Kieren did as he was instructed, leaping up onto Zach's shoulder. Kieren knew this was his moment. What had been nagging him ever since the morning he received the letter from Melody was now about to unfold before him. He had no doubt Zach knew the perfect solution. Zach had seen the best of him even in his nightmare.

"Do you see that sack sticking out of my backpack?" Zach asked with the same instructing tone.

"Uh huh," Kieren confirmed as he focused his gaze at the cream colored bag tied shut by a small brown rope.

"That's yours," Zach told the eevee. Kieren turned back to Zach, in near disbelief. "Go on, take it."

Kieren turned back to the small sack and pulled it out of the crater formed by the encompassing zippers of the backpack. With a solid grip on the parcel Kieren steadied himself and hopped back down onto the bed where he placed the sack in front of him. He then turned back to Zach in appreciation.

"Well go ahead. Open it," Zach urged the staring eevee.

Kieren did so, grabbing the rope and sliding it off the sack with a good yank. He then lifted the bottom end of the bag and watched to see its contents pour out. What came out surprised him.

"What is it?" Melody asked, curiously leaning towards the object. Kieren had never seen anything like it before. It was stone-like in build and ruggedness but it was much flatter than the typical evolution stone. As he moved closer to get a better view, he suddenly saw a flash reflect off the stone from the room's lighting. Not only did he see the flash, but he also believed he had seen a pattern in the light. He shifted back in an attempt to confirm or disprove his theory.

"Whoa!" Kieren jumped after seeing the image of the moon form on the surface of the rock.

"That's a moon shard," Zach explained, kneeling down and placing his hand on Kieren's back. Like before, Kieren lied down and allowed the teen to message his fur. "It has been a long time since our family has found an eevee from the reserve suited for one of these." He picked up the shard in his hand and brought it close to Kieren.

"No! Not yet!" Melody screeched, causing Kieren to look up and Zach to turn. "You must wait until the Alpha Evelescence!"

Zach just laughed and brought the shard against Kieren's skin that wrapped his front limbs. Kieren closed his eyes. Melody turned away…

Nothing happened.

Kieren opened his eyes to find the shard sitting on his paws where he had a closer view of the fragmented rock. He then noticed partly folded underneath sat a scarlet string that looped its way through the back corner of the stone.

Melody opened her eyes to see the teenager hang the lunar ornament around Kieren's neck.

"Hold onto it," Zach instructed. The ornament began to sink into Kieren's neck fur as Zach removed his hand. "You will have to battle with it before it will take effect."

"And what will he become?" Melody asked curiously.

Zach chuckled to himself. "I guess you'll have to find out."

Kieren closed his eyes again. He still didn't know what he was going to evolve into, but he no longer cared. Zach knew, and that was all that mattered. Zach had saved him from his fatal nightmare years ago. Kieren had nothing to worry about. He breathed deep breaths and let all his tension escape from his mind. His business was done. Now he could just relax on this bed and…

Suddenly reality smacked Kieren in the face as other thoughts entered his head. He had been so concerned about his early past and the time he shared with Zach that he had ignored the fact that he was in a Pokemon Center and had been out for three days! Those details were probably pretty significant!

"So what happened to me?" Kieren asked amidst the silence.

"Are you talking about your nightmare or you getting pegged by a golf ball?" Melody asked.

"I was hit by a golf ball?" Kieren asked astonished.

"Long story short, Melody's father didn't have a very good shot from the fairway of the sixteenth," Zach jokingly explained.

"Really?" Kieren asked in disbelief.

"Yep," Zack answered, "Shanked 'er pretty good."

"Made me feel a lot better about my performance when I found that out," Melody added.

"Wait, why was your father golfing?" Kieren asked while trying to keep up with the conversation.

"Business," Melody answered.

"A better question: Who thought taking Mason golfing was a good idea?" Zach joked. Everyone in the room enjoyed a hearty laugh before the conversation drifted to other topics, easing the day away as Kieren recovered from his injury. Quickly the conversation shifted towards city things and Kieren felt himself falling out of place. Slowly his mind began to drift and before he even realized sleep was taking hold of him he had already dozed off.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **Your fate has been chosen!**

 **Arc 1 will be complete by the end of the summer!**

 **Be sure to leave a review, as it will go towards next summer and will be a good reference in case I run into writer's block during the school year.**

 **Enjoy these last couple of weeks of summer! ~Dreaming I'm Latios**


	17. 17) No Looking Back

**Author's Note:**

 **Yesterday was my last day of work this summer. Apparently I had a printer system's admin password design after me or something? I'm not entirely sure.**

 **Anyways, the summer is coming to an end, and for all of my big summer projects, this one is the only one I feel satisfied with, and it is all thanks to your support. Even though this is the last chapter I will be uploading this summer, and most likely the last chapter until May 2016, this story is far from over! I plan to do something like this next summer, because you guys are awesome and made this summer amazing!**

 **But just because the uploads stop doesn't mean I won't be around. I still have chapters to write, theories to write, and lots of other cool projects. If you want to get involved, be sure to check out my profile page by clicking the blue _Dreaming I'm Latios_ at the top of the page. I will be posting all my updates there.**

 **Enjoy the final chapter of the summer! _(Warning:_ _Long Author's Note at the end.)_**

 **Today is 8/15/2015 and this chapter is 2600+ words.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon, just dream it.**

* * *

Chapter 17: No Looking Back

"Ready?" asked the teenager as he stood atop the grassy hill that sloped into the forest. The eevee standing at his feet answered with a determined nod.

"This is it," the eevee told himself, taking his first step, but he got no farther before he heard his name.

"Kieren?" the teenager asked, causing the eevee to look back. "If anyone asks you about 'The Gaurdian', that's me."

"Got it," the eevee answered with unwavering confidence. "And Zach?"

"Yea?"

"Thanks for everything."

The teen nodded. "Go get 'em, Kieren!"

* * *

The forest shadows finished the last of their yoga routines before laying siege to what remained of the fading sunlight. A soft breeze began to stir over the lake, breathing a tiny piece of life into the water's edge. The slow dancing waters began to mimic the lights and patterns that garnished the stage of which many an eevee, vaporeon, jolteon, and flareon gathered for the upcoming event.

Cheers erupted as the Solar Alpha made her appearance onto the elevated stage. She haughtily stepped across the platform arriving at the center. As if on cue, the crowd grew silent.

"Citizens and warriors of the Eon Tribe," Celestia greeted. "Tonight, as to the common tradition of an Alpha Evelescence, we celebrate the return of the future Lunar Alpha of the Eon Tribe and await his decision. Keep your eyes peeled, because he may arrive at any moment!"

A short moment of silence ensued following Celestia's speech, but it was soon disrupted by music that began emanating from the stage. Voices of conversation joined the music as Celestia dismounted and joined the crowd.

Several songs later, a loud siren horn overran the loudspeakers and sung to the ears of all that were gathered. The music stopped. The conversations dissipated. Celestia mounted the stage and turned to the side stairway in expectation.

The tribe roared in excitement as a lone eevee cleared the final step onto the stage. He stepped forward, confidence emitting from his joints as he glanced across the crowd around him. Again, the crowd fell to silence.

"Welcome back, Kieren Bluestripe," Celestia greeted loud enough for the tribe to hear. "Are you ready for tonight?"

Kieren responded with a firm nod. He felt ready. He was the future alpha. He could feel it in his blood. He had followed Tara's instructions, and Zach had made him ready. He was just as excited as the crowd. This was it. This was his moment. He would finally evolve!

"Before we begin the main event," Celestia announced with a pinch of informality, "I am sure many of us are anxious to hear about your adventures outside of the reserve, so tell us, Kieren. How did you spend the majority of your time?"

Kieren chuckled to himself upon reflection. "Well," he started. He could hear several anticiapted gasps in the audience. "I spent a good portion of my time unconscious in the city's Pokemon Center."

Celestia cringed upon the response. Kieren received a variety of audience reactions, but kept his cool.

"So the outside world was harsh to you," Celestia commented.

No, not really," Kieren dismissed. "It was just an accident that resulted from Mason the Ninetails' horrible aim."

"Sorry about that! Kieren!" Melody's father shouted from the crowd.

Celestia turned her amused gaze back to Kieren as the audience stirred in conversation trying to make out what was just revealed. "Are you sure you are ready?" Celestia asked softly, half her voice concerned, the other half laughing at the oddity of it all.

"Yep." Kieren answered without hesitation.

"Continuing On!" Celestia raised her voice drawing the audience to silence. "Kieren, on your journey, did you encounter 'The Guardian' of Eon Valley?"

"Yes," Kieren answered fearlessly. He smiled at Celestia's inquisitive look.

"Very well," Celestia addressed to the audience. "It is the tradition of future alphas to beseech the wisdom of 'The Guardian' of Eon Valley. As some of you may recall from my son Solano's Evelescence Ceremony, it is 'The Guardian's' custom to return future alphas with the designated stone he finds suitable." Kieren watched with his own anticipation as both Celestia and the audience turned their gaze to him. "So Kieren? What has 'The Guardian' given you?"

Kieren took a few glances around before shaking his fur as if he had been soaked.

"He gave me this," Kieren stated as he revealed his necklace. If there was a sound for anticipation, Kieren could hear it among the gasps and whispers of his tribemates; however, Celestia was staring at him dumbfoundedly.

"What is it?" she asked, her voice matching her clueless expression.

"He called it a moon shard," Kieren explained. "He said he seldom hands them out."

Celestia shrugged at the explanation. "Shall we see it in action?" she beckoned the audience.

"YEA!" the eevee and their evolved forms bellowed in unison.

All eyes rested on Kieren as seconds passed. Celestia's face slowly soured as her patience dwindled, yet Kieren did not make a move.

"Hurry up. Everyone's waiting," Celestia whispered to Kieren just loud enough for the front row to hear.

"I can't," Kieren whispered back.

"What do you mean you can't?" Celestia snapped. "I thought you said you were ready?"

"I am," Kieren answered. "It's just that there is a catch to activating…LOOK OUT!" Kieren shouted jumping to the side avoiding the incoming flareon. He relaxed when he saw Celestia had also managed to escape.

"What are you doing? Kieren?" the flareon asked. "Do you want to end up like Boran?"

"That will never happen!" Kieren boasted, while setting his feet.

The flareon pounced at Kieren again, but missed its mark as Kieren swiftly evaded to the side before circling from behind.

"Is that all you got? Trent?" Kieren taunted while taking a battle stance. Trent answered with a shot of small fireballs which Kieren skillfully evaded.

"Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!" the tribe began to chant.

"Look what you've done! Kieren!" Trent screamed. "Now they want us to fight! And it's too late for me to let you back out!"

"I couldn't have asked for a better time for a battle!" Kieren mocked. "Problem solved," he whispered to Celestia, making sure Trent didn't hear. He saw Celestia nod in half-comprehension before she descended from the stage.

Trent opened his mouth allowing flames to swirl around his fangs. He lunged at Kieren, trying to bite him with a fire fang attack. Just before Trent made contact, Kieren unleashed a burst of speed towards the back screen which now showed a camera view of the battle. Kieren kicked off the screen and slammed into Trent with a powerful quick attack. The crowd roared in excitement. Trent quickly rose back to his feet and unleashed a swirling vortex of fire which surrounded and trapped Kieren. Thoughts raced through Kieren's mind as the fire swirled closer to him. He was beginning to feel the heat of the flames and the direness of the situation. He tried to locate Trent, but failed due to the surrounding flames and smoke obscuring his vision. He coughed once, twice. The noise of the crowd disabled any sort of audio locating. As a last resort, he fired a swift attack in a random direction. The fire spin subsided as Trent grunted upon being stricken by the flying stars. Kieren hopped out of the ring of fire, relieved. As he looked around to get his bearings, Trent bashed him with a quick attack. He tumbled and collided with the lit screen. A slight ache began to run through his body as he stood to his feet.

"I'm not burned," Kieren mumbled to himself as he eyed his opposition. Trent had just unleashed another ember. Kieren, reacting quickly, countered with swift. The stars and fireballs collided in the air and exploded - stalemate. The instant the smoke cleared, Trent sprung into the air. Kieren readied himself to meet Trent head on. Trent, recognizing this, quickly built up a shadow ball and flung it at Kieren. As Trent was just about to pounce, the shadow ball enveloped around Kieren, but Kieren remained unaffected and undeterred. He lunged forward, whipping his tail around and slamming it into Trent's body. Trent crashed to the ground and slid several feet away.

The tribe grew quiet. As Trent looked up, Kieren could see his eyes widen in astonishment. The floor began to echo the light that had begun radiating from the moon shard Kieren wore. The tribe stirred with whispers and gasps as Kieren could feel a pulse of energy overtake his body. He was evolving!

"Oohs" and "Awes" filled the air as Kieren felt his limbs begin to burst and expand. His tail contracted and firmed. His ears stretched thin. His length and height expanded as his perspective of the outside world elevated in accompaniment with his new form. Finally the energy and glow subsided.

Kieren listened and watched as conversations began to flourish between the members of the tribe. At first, he enjoyed the attention and commotion he caused, but suddenly he realized something was wrong…

Nobody was cheering.

Perplexed and unnerved, Kieren shifted his glance down to where his front paws stood. They were black. Somewhat alarmed, Kieren turned towards the screen. He staggered back at the sight…

He wasn't a flareon, a jolteon, or a vaporeon.

He was something…

…else.

Suddenly the tribe exploded in outrage and protest. A cold chill terrorized Kieren's veins as his new muscles tensed in angst. Kieren retreated towards the screen as the pokemon in front of him snarled and derided him of hope. His celebration had taken a turn for the worse VERY quickly.

Celestia stepped back on stage. Kieren was confounded by her expression which did not display rage but rather trepidation and fright.

Something was off with it all. How was he…no. He did everything right. Zach had given this to him. Zach was 'The Guardian' of the Eon Tribe. Zach chose this for him fully knowing that Kieren was to be the next alpha.

"It can't be my fault," Kieren mumbled to himself.

"Attention!" Celestia screamed, silencing the protests. "Kieren, if that is even your name, what you have done is foreign to our tribe. YOU are foreign to our tribe."

"No, no! This cannot be right!" Kieren thought to himself. His eyes began welling with tears.

"You…do not…belong here!" Celestia stuttered, struggling to maintain her poise. "You must leave at once!" She turned her head towards the back left stairway.

With a sigh of defeat, Kieren began to tread towards the stage exit. He did not care to look back to see the faces of his former tribe. He didn't need to question what Celestia meant. This was the tribe that had already tried to rid him once. The tears were freely flowing now as his sigh had transformed into sniffles. He was an exile. Even worse, he still didn't even know what he was. Suddenly he wasn't sure if he liked this Zach kid anymore.

As he departed the festival gathering, he could hear the tribe disperse and prepare for the night. He glanced over at the lake, which showed him no more than the moon above him, as if saying "goodbye". He looked ahead at the path which veered away from the lake he had grown up with all this time.

"Whoa! A real life UMBREON!" exclaimed a voice from the water.

Kieren paused at the sudden sound, but ignored it and recommenced his stride.

"Kieren is that you?" the voice called again.

"Drake?" Kieren guessed solemnly, slowly turning his head towards the water.

"An unbreon? No way! Dude! That's so cool!" Drake exploded.

"You know what I am?" Kieren asked melancholily, not even attempting to conceal the despair emanating from his voice.

"Yea! You're an umbreon - the dark type evolution! It's one of the hardest evolutions for an eevee to obtain!" Drake answered enthusiastically.

Kieren turned away with heavy breath at Drake's overwhelmingly ebullient behavior.

"What's the matter Kieren?" Drake asked more seriously.

"Drake…I have to go," Kieren choked out underneath the tears that welled up in his eyes as he turned back towards the friend he would soon have to leave behind.

"Wha…Why?" Drake asked, stammered.

"I can't stay here, Drake," Kieren tried to explain, barely pronouncing each word between the sniffles and the chokes. "I don't belong here anymore." He turned and started continuing his trek.

"Kieren! Wait!" Drake cried. Kieren stopped and glanced back over his shoulder. "Ever since you've left I've been studying non-stop of the various evolutions of eevee, including yours. You have to tell me the whole story!"

Kieren stopped, trying to clear his emotions to make room for rational thoughts. He paused for a while, as it took several breaths for him to suppress all the hurt that ate him like toxic. But as soon as he succeeded, it quickly occurred to him how valuable Drake was in the situation.

"Fine," Kieren conceded. Drake's face lit up. "How much do you know about the city?" he asked while backtracking his steps.

"More that you think," Drake answered with a clever smirk.

"Alright. So first day of my journey in the city I got hit by a golf ball and woke up three days later in the Pokemon Center," Kieren tested.

"Ouch," Drake responded with complete understanding.

Kieren could read from Drake's flinching that he was following.

"So then Zach was at the Pokemon Center and told me that for years he knew the perfect evolution for me, and then he gave me something called a moon shard."

"That's what you are wearing around your neck, right?" Drake asked excited.

Kieren looked down at his necklace. "Yea I guess. I didn't realize it stayed after my evolution."

"Yea. They are kinda unique that way. So what happened once you got it?" Drake asked excitedly.

"Well…Zach told me that I needed to battle for it to activate, so I was kinda stuck during the ceremony, but then Trent jumped on stage, upset that I wasn't evolving, so I baited him into battling. That's when I evolved."

"So you did have to actually battle…it wasn't just an adrenaline rush?" Drake asked, still elated by the discovery of a real life umbreon.

"No. It was battling alright," Kieren stated. "Anyways, after I evolved, everyone got really mad at me because they didn't know what I was. I didn't even know what I was until you told me."

"An umbreon?" Drake hinted.

"Yea…that…" Kieren began, losing his composure again and stumbling on all of his words. "It was after everyone started protesting that Celestia told me to leave."

"You were kicked out just because you evolved into an umbreon?" Drake asked horrified.

"Exiled…"

If it weren't for the situation Kieren was in, he would have burst out laughing at Drake's series of cartoonish expressions. First his eyes widened in shock. Shortly after, his lips produced a frown that along with his eyes told a story of fear. His eyes then morphed to sorrow. After a short pause of contemplation, Drake's eyes blasted into ones of determination, stirring the black figure in front of him.

"Well fuck them!" he snapped, garnering a weak smile from the umbreon. "They should have felt honored to have such a rare and powerful evolution on their tribe, especially a Bluestripe."

"Thanks, Drake," Kieren responded. It felt better knowing that at least someone supported him, a wise lapras no less. It meant he wasn't at fault, but that didn't ease his current situation.

"No problem. Now I've got some more studyin' to do, but before I go, I got some good old Lapras of the Lake Wisdom for ya: Fuck everyone that wanted you out! Go out there and make an awesome life for yourself! You deserve it! And enjoy being an umbreon. It makes you look Badass!"

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **Thank you all again for reading! It was an awesome summer.**

 **So what next? Well let me first introduce to you my school year policies regarding reviews and next summer's uploads.**

 _I will not upload chapters during the school year unless I reach Ch 41 or I gain some other benefit by doing so._

 _You will be able to buffer reviews for summer bonus chapters during the school year._

 _A buffered review will apply to the first chapter in the summer that is missing a qualified review._

 _The number of qualified reviews required to earn a buffered review increases sequentially by 1 starting with 2. So 2 for the first, 3 for the second, and so on._

 _The number of submissions required to earn a buffered review increases sequentially by 1 starting with 3._

 _A qualified review which contains a submission will count for both._

 **For those of you not sure what I mean by _qualified review_ , here is my definition, copied straight out of this summer's upload policies on my profile page.**

 _A **qualified review** tells me **what** you liked or disliked about the story. This can include comments about characters, scenes, quotes, descriptions, or chapters._

 _A **second type of qualified review** is a **prediction** , in which the review tries to predict what will happen next in the story. This will not alter the story in any way, and will provide insight as to how well my readers can pick up on the little details. Trust me. There's plenty of them buried in this work._

 _A **qualified review is not** a review that comments on **the story as a whole** without pointing out specific details. **While I appreciate hearing** that you like my story, think I'm a good writer, and are dying for more, these kind of reviews do not help me **continue writing good chapters** ; hence, **I will not count these reviews in regards to bonus chapters!**_

* * *

 **So now onto that submission you've all been waiting for:**

In order to help progress the story and develop the characters, I am looking for events in which my main protagonists and antagonists can interact in while I develop the main plot.

Here's the form:

 **Location:** _Vallley Reserve, Eon City, The Pokemon suburbs of Eon City (think Mystery Dungeon's main hubworlds as small towns), an area a ways away._ _  
_

 **Location details _(Optional)_ :** _Scenery, Businesses, and shops present at the location._

 **Event:** _Describe the incident that my main characters should react to. Do not describe how my characters act or react or how the incident is resolved. For example, Melody can receive a strange note during one of her runs in the city, or Trent can find a lost sentret in the valley, but Trent can't ask Melody out, nor can he decide to take the sentret home. Of course the event doesn't have to be related to any of my main characters either. As of Chapter 17, the main characters this applies to are: Kieren, Trent, Caleb, Kat, Melody, Celestia, Boran, and Drake. Other characters can act/react as you see fit for the incident.  
_

 **OCs:** _I'd like to think I'm pretty good with OCs, but if you have an OC that helps make your plot event interesting, feel free to describe the character here. Any details you leave out I can fill in._ _  
_

* * *

 **Examples:**

 **Location:** Pokemon suburbs of Eon City

 **Locations Details:** Purr-fect Gifts - a purrloin-owned jewelry shop.

 **Event:** An innocent gligar is accused of stealing the Red Crown from Purr-fect Gifts following the previous night's break-in.

 **OCs:** Max Hoover - the aforementioned gligar - is suffering depression following the divorce of his parents and his brother being put in prison. He recently ran away from home to escape his troubles.

 **Location:** Eon Valley Reserve

 **Event:** The next migration games have begun, and the tailow are rioting about the missing Bluestripe heir.

* * *

 **Remember: If you are interested in beta reading or would like me to beta read or review your story, PM me.**

 **Also if by any chance you happen to be attending South Dakota State University in Brookings this next school year, I'll be there. If you want to meet me in person, you can find me at C2F2 (Campus Community Fall Festival) or at the following Friday 5PM GCO Meetings (which will most likely take place in SDEA 370) if you'd rather watch the Pokemon World Championships. If you are able to read and enjoy this story, then you are smart enough to help us make games!**

 **I hope you all had an amazing summer! Stay involved! Send me those submissions! If you want to send me more than one in a single review, I will count them separately. Good luck in school! I'll see you all again next summer with plenty more chapters!**

 **~Dreaming I'm Latios**

* * *

 _ **Prediction Shoutouts**_

Teraunce (Ch 6): _my bet is that kieren will become an umbreon._ **+1**

Digitamer88 (Ch 16): _I'm curios to see if the lunar shard will allow him to evolve into an umbreon_

Phillip Harbindinger (Ch 16): _I was thinking Umbreon was fairly likely. Glad to see that confirmed, as Umbreon is my favorite Eeveelution._


	18. 18) Melody! TELL ME!

**Author's Note:**

 **Welcome back to another summer of weekly chapters! I'm still doing the bonus chapter thing again. You can find the updated policies either on my profile page or summarized on the first chapter. Most of it is the same. However, I do have a couple of submission challenges for the story. One of which I will post at the end of the chapter. All submissions count the same as the other types of reviews that get bonus chapters, so fire your ideas away!**

* * *

 **So what's new? I'm getting chapters up to quality in far fewer iterations now. But due to my busier life, I'm not nearly as far ahead as I was at the beginning of last summer. I am also working on two other big projects. One of which is a video game template where new developers can add features, levels, and characters in Unity. It's in 3D and has a bit of a fantasy feel to it. The second project is a CGI Pokemon parody short codenamed** _ **20 Leaves**_ **. I'm going for a higher quality than typical SFM parodies using Blender and Cycles rendering, so I'm definitely not finishing this one any time soon. I'll be streaming my work on both of these projects once Swiftel stabilizes our internet. As for personal life, I got my butt kicked in academics this past year. But now I have a VR development internship, which is absolutely amazing!**

* * *

 **Phillip Harbindinger: I'm curious to see if you stick to your theory after the next few chapters. Sorry for not telling you until now why I stopped so soon, but SDSU starts mid-August. We technically get out the first week of May, but I don't start uploading until June after I get myself situated with everything else.**

 **Dusky Flareon: You're thinking! I like it! I encourage you to keep a closer eye on motives. Kieren, Melody, and Trent are pretty much open books, but the other characters are much more subtle. Regardless of what happens, motives will help you answer the "whys?". As for your submission, whether you have an account or not makes no difference to me. As for the name, I probably won't use it for the particular character I had in mind. Instead I can't decide if I should use the name for the wife, the daughter, or the princess? I'm not going to say who any of those characters are, but the name works really well for all three.**

* * *

 **This chapter is pretty short. Sorry, but it was necessary in the grand scheme of things. Anyways, what better way to start off a hot summer than with a heated chapter? Enjoy!**

 **Today is 6/4/2016 and this chapter is 700+ words.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon, just dream it.**

* * *

Chapter 18: Melody! TELL ME! (Start of Arc II)

"Brhgddggsgdddgrodhhh" Trent groaned as the light pestered his shut eyelids. Minutes later, the flareon gave up and opened his eyes. He attempted to rise to his feet but in doing so, felt his muscles stiffen and complain.

"Kieren got me good," he grumbled as he tried to stretch out his limbs and ease the aching.

He took in his surroundings. Someone must have dragged him into his bed.

"Good morning," spoke the voice of his father.

"Did you sleep well, Trenton, honey?" asked his mother.

Trent nodded.

"You were shaken up quite badly," his father told him, slightly concerned.

"Did you bring me back?" Trent asked.

His parents nodded.

Trent sighed in relief. The fact that he was beaten by an exile wasn't good for his reputation. At least no one else was reminded of it in having to take his body away.

"No one has mentioned anything about it," Trent's father told him, as if reading his son's mind. "It seems like a fairly normal day. Just stay away from the ceremony site. Samantha's family is having a party there."

"Thanks dad. I'll keep that in mind," Trent answered to the information. After a quick breakfast, he walked out onto the pathway that led towards Kat's hideout.

"Trenton, dear?" his mother interrupted.

Trent glanced back, meeting the gaze of his parents one last time.

"I know it is hard to go on after what happened last night, but try to stay strong. Alright?"

"Thanks mom. I'll try," Trent answered, turning back towards the path that led to his destination.

"Trent! Help!" yelled a panicked feminine voice that did not belong to an eevee nor any of its evolved forms.

"Melody!" Trent gasped, as he spotted the vulpix dashing over to him.

"I can't find Kieren anywhere! Did everything go alright last night?"

Trent stood wide-eyed as Melody gasped for air.

"Melody! Were you with Kieren on his journey?" Trent asked, back into sleuthing mode.

"Yes. Now where is Kieren?" Melody answered hastily.

"Melody! I need you to tell me what happened during your adventure."

"We went to the city, Kieren got hit in the head from my father's bad aim, we met 'The Gaurdian' at the Pokemon Center, and he gave Kieren a moon shard, saying it was a long time since he had handed one out. Now where is Kieren?!" Melody hurriedly demanded.

"Was 'The Gaurdian' Zach?"

"Yes! Where's Kieren!" the vulpix asked, starting to steam.

"What was this Zach person like?"

"WHERE IS KIEREN?!" Melody screamed.

"I DON'T KNOW!" Trent responded, flustered. "I'm trying to figure that out."

"What?" Melody shrieked in horror.

"Melody! TELL ME! What was this Zach person like? What happened?"

"Fine!" Melody conceded as the two began walking again. After taking a couple deep breaths, she told Trent everything that had occurred inside the Pokemon center: Kieren's nightmare, the photo, and the moon shard. Trent's eyes widened as he heard Zach's story. He had also been at the Pokemon Center getting his leg fixed after the incident long ago. He remembered Zach in his youth, always full of concern for the two of them. He cursed himself for not recognizing the name.

"So did Zach say anything about this moon shard?"

"Hmmm. He did say Kieren had to battle with it to activate it," Melody recalled.

"That explains that!" Trent announced.

"Did Kieren battle someone?" Melody asked.

"Yea. Me."

"You? Did he hold up ok?"

"Yea. I got mad when he wasn't evolving, so I attacked him to try and turn him back to his senses, but instead he taunted me and got the crowd chanting for a fight. Then he beat me good."

"Thanks Trent," said Melody.

Trent gave her an astonished look.

"Did Kieren evolve?" Melody ask.

Trent nodded.

"What did he evolve into?" Melody asked excitedly. "I totally missed the surprise!"

A pause followed as Trent recalled the flash as he was lying down, defeated.

"I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know?" Melody asked, raising her voice in frustration.

"I don't know what he was! He was entirely black! I've never seen anything like him before in my life! He scared everyone, even Celestia!" Trent spat aggravated.

Melody paused and let the words sink in. She had never expected this. Now that she thought about it, it all made sense. Zach had given Kieren a rare evolution, apparently so rare no one in the tribe remembered it. That worried her.

"So what happened next?" Melody asked quietly.

She allowed the flareon time to answer.

Trenton looked back at her with a grim frown.

"He got exiled."

"No!"

* * *

 **Author's Note:** **How's everyone doing? Ready for more? Don't forget to review for the bonus chapter. Plenty of ways to earn it. Here's the details for the name submission. The character will make an appearance in Chapter 26, so I will need a solid name by then.**

I am stuck on a new female protagonist's name in Moon on the Water. I'm looking for an American name whose meaning associates with things like "hidden talent", "sly", or "hope in the shadows". Bonus points if the name has a soothing sound to it, like "April" or "Melody" or "Selena", rather than something like "Kat", "Tori", "Jeanette", or "Vicky", where the names start or end with sharp consonants.

 **Send in those reviews! Extra reviews get applied to a bonus surprise, so don't let your ideas go to waste. And don't be afraid to PM me if you have personal interests or questions in the things I do. Enjoy this awesome summer! ~Dreaming I'm Latios**


	19. 19) Katfight

**Author's Note:**

 **Hey everyone! Sorry for the late update! It was a really busy week, and yesterday I was at a Smash Tournament. I got my butt kicked by a Fox player, and then my roommate eliminated me after a close match. It was still fun though. Anyways, I think our internet is fixed now. Some young guy came in and actually identified problems with our connection even while the internet was up. I was really impressed. Maybe I'll finally get to start streaming some 3D animation work this week.**

* * *

 **PokeGamma54: Chapters are short? Fair, I suppose. That's mostly because I divide chapters by plot points rather than length. This story will probably hit over 100k words by the time it is done though. As for missing details, if you can pinpoint specific aspects that are missing, that would be really helpful. I tend to forget about things such as body language and environments due to the dialogue-heavy nature of the story. I'm really glad you like the story! I'll definitely do my best to keep it going.**

 **Phillip Harbindinger: Welcome back! Take your time to reread what you need to. You'll probably pick up on a few more details. No worries about your last review. It wasn't as bad as you might be thinking. As for the last chapter, its purpose was a bit more abstract than most of the chapters I write. The concept really only applies to binge readers rather than those who check back weekly, so no need to worry about it.**

* * *

 **I'm not 100% certain I've quite captured the emotions of the characters properly in this chapter, but otherwise it transitions very nicely for the next chapter. But nevermind that, I'm sure many of you have been waiting to find out what happened to Kieren the night he was exiled. Well enjoy!**

 **Today is 6/12/16 and this chapter is 2800+ words.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon, just dream it.**

* * *

Chapter 19: Katfight

"Did you sleep well?" the furret asked Kieren upon his awakening.

"Yes. Thank you," Kieren answered politely.

It was mid-morning. The sun was still battling against the changing seasons, and today it was definitely winning. The grass glistened of morning dew, painting soft rainbows with every sweep of the dancing breeze. A couple lazy clouds drifted slowly in the blueing sky, beckoning one last summer adventure before the cold made its temporary annexation.

"Here is some breakfast for you, young umbreon," another furret told Kieren while bringing him a bowl of berries.

"You don't have to," Kieren responded, raising a paw.

"We insist," the furret demanded, setting the bowl down and staring Kieren straight in the eyes.

The furret had been so nice to him ever since he left the forest. It was all thanks to a starly that interrupted his parting with Drake last night. The starly went out of his way to make arrangements, and the furret seamed rather eager to take him in for the night. Kieren had never realized that the furret had remained just outside the forest since their mishap with the tribe, but now they seemed happy and well off.

Kieren watched the little sentret play with a colored ball as he swallowed the berries the furret had kindly gifted him. The peace was bittersweet. Kieren would miss his family, his mom, aunt, uncle, and cousin. He would miss Kat and Caleb. He would miss Drake. He was all alone now. He had to invent his own life; start a new dream and pursue it. Eventually the sentret children disappeared into the tall grass hill shortly after Kieren had finished his breakfast.

"Headed out?" asked a furret as Kieren stood up on all fours.

"Yep. Thank you for all your kindness," he answered gratefully.

"No problem. An enemy of Celestia is a friend to us. Take care now!"

"An enemy to Celestia?" Kieren thought as he embarked on a path headed towards the city. "Why just Celestia, and not the tribe?" he pondered, but he dared not ask and push his luck. He needed as many new friends as he could get, now that he was on his own. He refocused himself on his next destination. He was going to the city, where he hoped he could find a new lifestyle. No one from the tribe would chase him, and he wouldn't have to worry as much about trainers trying to catch him, thanks to Melody's insight. Well, at least he wouldn't have to miss her since she'd likely be running errands from time to time. As for right now, he'd explore and talk to other pokemon until he found his place.

"See ya later," he called back to the waving furret behind.

* * *

"Did Kat say anything about Kieren?" Melody asked the flareon once they finished exchanging tales of last night's event.

"I was out," Trent reminded her.

"Oh, right, sorry," Melody recoiled. Her tails smashed together in angst.

"Nevermind that. I need to talk to her and Caleb right now and discuss options," Trent informed her, looking off towards the cliff.

"Caleb?" Melody asked.

"Yea. The other day, Caleb showed me some moss he found hanging off the poachers' heli…thing…" Trent failed with an embarrassed chuckle.

"Helicopter?" Melody hinted.

"Yea that. There was some kind of energy emitting from the moss and he wanted to know if it resembled the feeling of evolution."

"Did it?" Melody asked, ears perked.

Trent nodded.

"Whoa. Really?" Melody gasped, her eyes asking the same question.

"Trent!" yelled a voice from a distance. The two turned and saw an eevee tearing down towards them with a worried expression. He stopped in front of them heaving to catch his breath.

"Caleb!" Melody gasped.

"Caleb, I have a huge favor to ask you," Trent stated, barely giving the still-eevee a chance to rest.

"What?" Caleb huffed between breaths.

"The moss stays secret, got that?" Trent hissed.

Caleb smiled as his limbs relaxed, despite his still-heavy breathing.

"Good. I was about to ask you the same thing, but I guess it's ok if Melody knows."

Melody and Trent both gave a sigh of relief.

"So what are you going to do now?" Melody asked.

"I don't know. I was hoping one of you two would have an idea," Caleb confessed somewhat sheepishly.

"Keep growing it," Trent commanded. "It might be useful in the future. Melody and I will build a sign to keep the others away after we talk to Kat, right Melody?"

Melody nodded.

"I'll go with you," Caleb asserted.

Trent nodded and turned towards his destination. Caleb followed his lead. Suddenly Trent paused and glanced back.

"Melody?"

Melody quickly returned her gaze back to the two of them revealing her paling expression.

"Someone's coming!" she quickly told them. Caleb froze, while Trent stepped in front of Melody.

"Trent! Is that you?" asked a familiar female voice as a flareon and two eevee emerged from the forest trail and approached the startled group.

"Why the heck aren't you three at the party?" Trent scowled.

"We have things we want to discuss with you," Andy answered remarkably calm. "Where are you headed?"

"Go back to your party! I don't need to be attacked again!" Trent snarled.

"He's got a point. Let's go," Connor beckoned.

"Wait," Andy snapped. He looked back up at Trent. "Trent. I owe you an apology."

Caleb and Melody shared glances in anticipation. Connor's eyes had grown in shock while Paige jawdropped. Trent waited for an explanation.

"The Kieren we exiled was not the Kieren you battled last night. This whole time, you've been trying to break the curse and unlock the Kieren no one else could ever see, potentially a true alpha. You were so close too. I saw it in your battle last night, and I am willing to let your family bias slide for now on one condition: You promise me that if you learn his curse is untamable, you will let him go."

Melody was fuming, literally. Smoke emitted from her nostrils as she hissed at the flareon that had spoken.

"Caleb, take the eevee guy, I got the girl," Melody whispered.

Trent turned overhearing the plot. "Relax you two. In a sense he's right."

"What?" Melody asked appalled.

"I'll explain later," Trent whispered. He turned back to Andy. "I couldn't have asked for a more honest deal. I'll be more than happy to answer questions."

"Great! Where you headed?" Paige asked abruptly.

"We're going to check on Kat; make sure she's ok," Trent answered.

"We're going with you," Andy stated.

"No! Bad idea!" Trent objected.

"Why?" Paige demanded.

"Because her best friend just got fuckin' exiled!" Caleb erupted, diverting the attention away from Trent. Melody signaled her agreement.

"And how does that make our attending a bad idea?" Connor asked.

"This is time for sympathy, not sleuthing," Trent answered firmly. He maintained his firm upright stance as he spoke.

A moment of silence lapsed while the flareon contemplated, the two eevee behind him waiting with mixed expressions.

"It is in our best interest to support her in whatever way we can," Andy eventually asserted.

"Fine," Trent decided, not releasing his established control over the matter. He turned to begin walking again, but looked back at Kieren's friends.

"If you two prefer to wait until this is over, that's fine," he whispered.

"We'll come," Melody answered. Caleb glanced over at her, trying to read her thoughts to no avail, before following suit.

As much as she disliked the other Eon members participating in this sympathy meeting with Kat, Melody was more concerned about Kieren. She was confident she would be able to find him and discuss everything with him, but right now she needed as much information about the tribe as possible, especially information pertaining Kat.

"You're Melody, right?" Connor was asking her.

"Mm hmm," Melody affirmed. "And you are?"

"Connor. She's Paige and the flareon is Andy," the young eevee introduced informally.

"So why exactly are you three all of a sudden interested in Kat?" Melody asked, suppressing a curt tone for a more friendly one.

"I'm not really sure. Her name came up in conversation, Andy got curious, and now we've been following detective Trent to uncover the tribe's mysteries and correct our mistakes," Connor answered adventurously.

"And I'm guessing your last detective adventure ended in a fight?" Melody pressed.

Connor drooped his head. "Yea. Unfortunately."

"So what made you come back exactly?" Melody asked.

"Andy wants Kat back in training and back with us. We all felt really guilty when we learned the truth about her quitting, or something like that, so we're trying to make it up. Plus listening to a flareon logically decipher mysteries is incredibly entertaining!"

"Well just a heads up, if any mystery-solving does occur, it is going to be relatively biased. After all, Trent is the only one on our side who made the deal, and it breaks if you betray any one of us, as he is with us," Melody hissed warningly.

"We understand," Andy answered, overhearing the last bit.

* * *

"Melody!" Kat cried as she caught glimpse of the arriving pokemon from the shoreline where she stood. She rushed over and fell into the vulpix's embrace, wrapping her tail against her side.

"Is he alright?" she asked, welling up in tears.

"I haven't gone out yet," Melody admitted softly, laying her chin across the eevee's neck. "I'm sorry."

Trent and Caleb tried their best to comfort the eevee breaking in tears as Melody held her. The other trio sat down and patiently waited for a signal from Andy. A few minutes passed before Melody, Trent, and Caleb succeeded in calming the distraught eevee.

Kat broke from Melody's embrace as she attempted to rebuild her composure, straightening her legs and lifting her tail. Her eyes caught Andy and his companions.

"Why are they here?" she glowered.

"We are concerned about you, Kat," Andy answered.

"Yea right," Kat scorned sarcastically.

"They actually are concerned about you," Trent explained to her. "They just don't give a fuck about Kieren."

"Their call," Kat remarked before promptly ignoring her unexpected guests as she turned back to her friends. "So have any of you had contact with Kieren since the poacher attack?"

"You haven't heard anything?" Melody asked in horror.

"I haven't heard anything either. We've been busy lately with the ceremony and all," Caleb confessed. He glanced over at Kat, before staring down at the ground again.

"I'll start," Trent announced softly as he cleared his throat. "Evelescence Day after the attack, he and I went to the lapras to help him make his last minute decision. They gave Kieren step-by-step instructions on how to survive the ceremony and informed him he needed to find Zach, A.K.A "The Guardian", who is apparently an expert on our species."

"Sorry for interrupting," Caleb inserted, "but didn't Kieren have dreams about a Zach kid or something?"

"Those weren't dreams, Caleb," Melody answered, having already made the connections.

"Kieren and I spent weeks in the city's Pokemon Center recovering after the nightmare attack," Trent continued. "Zach often came in to check on us."

"Why did Kieren think it was a dream?" Caleb asked.

"Drugs," Trent answered. "His condition was much more severe than mine."

"I see," Caleb replied. "Continue?"

"Actually, that's everything I got. After talking with the lapras we were able to take in the moment for what it was," Trent exhaled, looking at the stirred dust, wishing he had more.

"And Melody, did you see him at all outside the reserve after the ceremony?" Caleb asked.

"I was his tour guide," Melody answered, smiling after seeing both Caleb's and Kat's reaction.

"Really? So what happened?" Kat asked excitedly. "Tell me everything!"

Melody giggled at Kat's outburst.

"Well, we went to the city, and I lectured Kieren on city things. We stopped at the stone shop and then ate lunch at the Pokemon Center. After that we tried golfing."

"What's golfing?" Trent asked. Melody never mentioned that term in her previous summary of their adventure.

"Well…" Melody paused, attempting a way to explain it. "Do you remember that white thing I was riding on when I ambushed the metagross?"

"Wait!" Andy interjected, reminding everyone of his presence. "Sorry for interrupting the story, but was that your flamethrower that struck the metagross from behind?"

"Yea. Why?" Melody asked glancing up and turning her head, as surprised as everyone else at the sudden change of topic.

"Damn! Girl! You just instantly won my respect," Andy declared.

"Thanks?" Melody offered awkwardly.

"Continue on," Trent prompted, snapping Melody back to the previous topic.

"Ok, so golfing is a game where you hit a small ball with odd-shaped clubs and try to get it into a hole. So we were playing, and Kieren was doing extremely well, until the very end when he got knocked out by a ball my father shot. After a few days at the Pokemon Center, he woke up from his recurring nightmare."

"Kieren has a recurring nightmare?" Connor interrupted this time.

"Yea, of getting nearly killed by his tribe!" Kat answered spitefully.

Andy flinched, but Connor outdid him and was already backpedaling. Paige simply turned away.

"Continue?" Kat asked Melody sarcastically gracefully.

"Uhh. Yea. So…Once Kieren figured out where he was, Zach came in and gave him something called a moon shard. He said it was a long time since he found an eevee deserving of one. He then told us Kieren had to battle with it before it would take effect."

"He fooled me good," Trent added.

"Is that all you know?" Kat asked, hoping for something hinting as to what Kieren was.

"That's all we got," Melody answered.

"Sorry if this is a stupid question, but what exactly did Kieren do wrong?" Connor asked.

"We still haven't figured that out yet," Trent admitted.

"You haven't," Kat spoke abruptly, catching everyone by surprise. "One look at my mother's face told me everything."

"What was it?" Connor asked.

"I need to train," Kat answered.

"With us?" Andy asked eagerly.

"No."

"Why not?" Paige asked.

"I'd be bored to death!" Kat replied.

"Why? Because Kieren won't be there?" Paige sneered. "Seriously. Get over that fuckin' loser and be with us like you used to be, Kat!"

"Paige!" Andy shouted, alarm radiating from his rapidly expanded eyelids. Trent tapped Melody on the shoulder and lead one paw in the opposite direction before Kat stopped them.

"It's alright," Kat informed everyone present as she slowly approached Paige while kicking her legs in the dirt as a warmup exercise. "I already needed to kick some asses for exiling my best friend, and this is the perfect time to start."

Andy sighed. "We need to go," he whispered to Connor unknowingly loud enough for Trent to hear.

"Relax, you two. Kat's not mad at you yet," Trent caught them without Paige's notice. "Besides, don't you want to see Kat battle?"

Trent couldn't help but laugh at the way Connor's eyes flew up like bottle rockets, just in time to see a knowing smile from Kat aimed for him and Andy.

"Thanks," Andy gave in.

* * *

"3!" Caleb counted.

"2!"

"1!"

"Go!"

Kat was quick to build up a shadow ball and launch it at her foe. Paige opted to crouch back, waiting to counterstrike. Just as the shadow ball was in front of her face, Kat flung herself with a quick attack through the shadow ball and into Paige's front-side, causing Paige to tumble backwards into the dirt.

"You little," Paige grumbled as she lifted her eyes back onto her adversary. Without warning, she charged Kat with a quick attack of her own. Kat quickly braced herself for the impact milliseconds before Paige rammed her left shoulder against Kat's body. To Paige's surprise, Kat's body didn't give an inch in the collision, and Paige found herself rolling off the top of her target. She slid on her feet a few yards past to see a divot where Kat's body had been. Kat, however, was quick at work building up a double team slowly advancing towards Paige. Paige, recognizing the near-linear formation of the eevee illusion squad attempted to ram them all down with take down. One by one the illusions faded, but as Paige neared the second-to-last one, the remaining illusions disappeared. Caught off guard, Paige attempted to turn around while skidding backwards in an attempt to spot her elusive opponent. Just as she had done so, Kat reappeared behind Paige, catching Paige's tail in her bite. Using Paige's backwards momentum to her advantage, Kat spun the surprised eevee a quarter-turn, aligning the eevee for a powerful iron tail that blasted Paige into the rocky frame of Kat's hideout.

"That was wicked!" Connor exclaimed in awe of the sly maneuver.

"Are you going to get up?" Kat teased.

"I can't," Paige murmured as she attempted to move her limbs, before going cross-eyed and collapsing.

"Well that's that," Kat announced as she returned to her spectators while Caleb departed to pick some herbs for the battered and now unconscious eevee.

"I told ya she still had it in her," Trent told the flareon beside him.

"Apparently," Andy answered, thoroughly impressed.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** **Well I hope you enjoyed that chapter. It's nice to hear back from old and new readers alike! Don't forget to leave some feedback. I'd especially love some more name suggestions for that protagonist. Her introduction is coming up soon. For those of you in the Midwest, try to stay cool. It is blasted hot. And for everyone, enjoy the summer! ~Dreaming I'm Latios**


	20. 20) The Tournament

**Author's Note:**

 **Bonus chapter! For those of you who have no idea what this is, go back to chapter 1 and read my notes at the top. Otherwise, let's see how long we can keep up this streak. That will require more name suggestions though. Right now I only have one, and chapter 26 is coming fast (especially with bonus chapters). See the bottom for details, or if you want to do it now while you are thinking about it, you can click on my profile and scroll down near the bottom where I list all my submission opportunities. Then you can PM me or review a previous chapter with your name suggestion.**

* * *

 **Dusky Flareon: Interesting! Here's a cryptic comment for ya: "So is this a Mega Mewtwo Y thing or a Darkrai thing? One is the likely symptom, the other is the unlikely cure." I love your reviews! They challenge me to work in every detail and fully develop the story.**

* * *

 **I'm not sure how I feel about this chapter. I like what I do have, but I feel like I am missing something. Maybe some memories or something? This chapter is all about Kieren, so let me know what you think!**

 **Today is 6/17/2016 and this chapter is 1400+ words.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon, just dream it.**

* * *

Chapter 20: The Tournament

As the crisp morning dew fled from the chasing sun, a lone umbreon walked along the hardened pavement weaving through the man-made mountains of Eon City. Questions still plagued his mind about a particular comment a furret made that day. However, there were even more about the future that the umbreon struggled over.

"Should I be trying to make friends, or should I be trying to find a place to sleep?" the umbreon thought to himself. Even though he had travelled through the city with Melody, he never actually found out what it was like to live there. He had been in a hospital bed every night he spent.

"I suppose in either case I should have an idea as to what I want to do with my life. Who would want to be friends with a lost helpless outcast?" His thoughts trailed back to yesterday, the day he had evolved. Thanks to Drake, he knew he at least did not break the laws of nature. His form was incredibly basic, not sharp like a jolteon, nor aggressive like a flareon, nor was it artsy like a vaporeon. Perhaps it was his rendition of the story of Goldilocks or something like that, but his evolution was something Kieren was willing to get used to.

Why he was an outcast was a different matter. Looking back, most of everything made sense - mostly. Kieren could never imagine evolving into any of the three elements while he was still an eevee, and Zach saw right through him and gave him an evolution Kieren never new existed. Drake knew what he was, but the tribe didn't. If the knowledge existed, why was it not an evolution choice? Was an umbreon once one of the tribe's enemies? No. That couldn't be it. The way everyone looked at him, they didn't understand what he was. They were afraid because they didn't understand. But if they didn't know, then how did Drake know? Surely the tribe must have had an encounter with an umbreon before. An encounter like that would have been quite memorable, the discovery of a new elemental evolution. So why didn't anyone remember? Why him?

Kieren couldn't stop his emotions from overtaking his thoughts as his mood sunk. First it was the tears of self-pity. He recalled the nightmare and trembling that overtook him when his life was threatened. He vividly remembered the stone that tumbled underneath him and hurled his body into his ex-tribemates judgmental eyes. No, not just judgmental, bloodthirsty eyes. They wanted him dead! It was no wonder they exiled him. After his nightmare he was allowed to return to the tribe by the command of Celestia only because of his innocence. But as soon as he did something foreign, the tribe - possibly feeling threatened by what they didn't understand - was quick to rid him away.

Suddenly Kieren felt no need for tears as anger and frustration boiled to a fever of rage. He would get revenge; make them pay for all the pain and trouble they belched onto him and his friends without a single singe of regret! He would build an army and stomp over the tribe, show as little mercy as he was given!

But no! He would only be proving his tribe correct. The tears returned as Kieren contemplated the pain and worry that must be plaguing his old friends. They had suffered so much to support him, even to the end. Trent had even stepped upon that stage to support him. Melody had guided him through the city. Kat openly opposed the tribe because of their misdeeds. He would miss them.

After another outburst of tears, Kieren's thoughts wandered into Drake's goodbye wish. Kieren couldn't just sit and pity himself all the time. He needed to invent a new and better life. He would experience new adventures, discover new challenges, and build up a new reputation for himself.

"Kieren?" a voice called, arousing the umbreon from his thoughts.

Kieren looked up in confusion as his brain scrambled to process the fact that his name had just been called. Suddenly, Kieren realized how odd it was that someone was actually calling him. Nobody from the tribe would be out in the city, and nobody from the city could have recognized his new umbreon form.

"Kieren! Over here!" called the voice.

Kieren turned to see a stout golden-brown creature, a ninetails, standing next to a familiar husky smiling man.

"Mason?" Kieren recognized. It was Melody's father, and next to him was that strange golf desk dude Melody talked to before she nearly killed Kieren with the super-transport-a-thing. Kieren turned and approached the two.

"How are you doing?" Mason asked sympathetically.

"Alright I guess," Kieren lied, trying to be upbeat. However, he still avoided eye contact.

"Listen Kieren," Mason began. "I know this doesn't even come close to making up for all the trouble you are dealing with, but I wanted to give this back to you."

Still without making eye contact, Kieren turned towards the ninetails. In front of the golden creature's paws was a folded up piece of paper.

"Huh? What is this?" Kieren mumbled as he unfolded the paper and stared at it. His gaze caught what appeared to be a flag on top of a green circle.

"Is this my scorecard?" Kieren asked, eyes opening wide for a second, before dimming to their previous melancholy glow.

"Uh huh. Melody dropped it after the uhhh… incident," Mason tried to explain in as formal voice as he could muster.

"How d'ya do?" asked the large obnoxiously cheery human. He walked around and bent over at the paper lying on the ground.

"Whoa! Mason! Come look at this!" the human shouted in excitement, causing the umbreon to stumble back slightly in astonishment.

Mason leaned over and took a glance at the sheet of paper.

"What? Kieren? Is this real?" Mason questioned in disbelief.

Kieren shrugged, unable to read what they were reacting to.

"Did Melody fill this out?" Mason asked.

Kieren nodded.

"Hold on. Mason, this isn't the same eevee you foreheaded, is it?" the large man asked.

"That's him," Mason confirmed. The man turned back to the black quadruped, who stood motionless with a blank stare at the ground.

"Hmmm. Kieren was it?" the man asked, prompting the umbreon to turn his head. "Any chance you would be free from Thursday 'til Sunday?"

Kieren didn't know how to react to the sudden question. He still hadn't decided what to do in life, or found a source of food and shelter for that matter.

"If you would like, I can offer you hotel and cafeteria service from now until Sunday if that helps," the man added after a brief silence.

"What?" Mason jumped.

"Relax. We'll make our money back by advertising this guy," the man boasted before turning to Kieren. "So what do ya say? Kieren?"

Kieren did not say a word.

"Kieren?" Mason asked.

"Sorry," Kieren stuttered. "I don't have a clue what you two are talking about."

"Hahaha!" Mason laughed heartily. "Hotel means a bed at night and cafeteria means food. It's an offer you can't refuse!"

Kieren's ears perked up to the explanation. This whole scorecard ordeal just became relevant!

"What's the catch?" Kieren asked suspiciously.

Mason laughed again. "Hey Mitch! He wants to know 'what's the catch?' "

The man also laughed at the cautious question.

"You see, the catch is there's a golf tournament starting Thursday, and I want you to compete in it. We will make our money back and then some by people who want to watch a pokemon golf, so it benefits both of us. Oh, and you can use the same clubs you used before free of charge, thanks to the manufacturer's sponsorship. So do we have a deal young feller?"

Kieren thought for a moment. The deal seemed really good, but there was too much Kieren still did not understand about his new life that he needed to clear up before he made a promise he couldn't keep.

"On one condition," Kieren started, surprising the ninetails. "I'm still quite unfamiliar with city life, so if I get into trouble not knowing something, I ask that you forgive me."

Mason let loose another chuckle, before responding in human-proof speech.

"Don't worry. I happen to be staying in the same hotel for the next week, so I can show you everything you'll need to know, and from what Melody told me, you should be fine on the streets."

"Sorry, but I cannot understand what you two are saying. Do we have a deal?" asked the human.

Kieren replied with a firm nod.

"Great!" the man cheered, patting the umbreon on the back. "Good luck in the tournament, Kieren!"

* * *

 **Author's Note:** **Well, that's all I got for the bonus chapter. Let me know what you think. But more importantly, hit me with some more name suggestions for a protagonist who will be making her debut pretty soon. I'm looking for some English/American name (basically something that wouldn't sound out of place in an English version/translation of the Pokemon NPCs) that has a meaning related to shadows, secret talents, slyness, hidden-ness, mysteries, or being undercover, etcetera. Bonus points if the name sounds "soft". Send as many as possible. If I get so many where I have to decide between more than one S-tier options, I will upload a bonus chapter for that week independent of the normal bonus chapters! There! More incentive! Stay cool! Stay awesome! See you Saturday! ~Dreaming I'm Latios**


	21. 21) OAI

**Author's Note:**

 **Hey everyone! Welcome back! Don't forget to review the last chapter before you read this one, or maybe you can review both at the end of this chapter since they are both short. I'm not happy with this chapter. I had a hard time balancing details of the scene and dialogue pacing and this chapter is way too short. I will probably use this chapter as a place to add backstories if I discover I need them later on in the story. Normally I would spend all day coming up with some to throw in, but I'm just really out of it today. We had a really bad storm come through out of nowhere last night. Streets flooded, lightning flashes two to three times every second, hail, and a lot of fallen trees. Anyways, sorry for the short and somewhat unfinished chapter. I'll tell you right now the next two chapters are a lot better. Hopefully you'll enjoy this one regardless, but don't feel bad if you don't.**

 **Today is 6/18/2016 and this chapter is 800+ words.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon, just dream it.**

* * *

Chapter 21: OAI

"Paige! ... Paige! Wake Up!"

"Uhhhhh…" Paige groaned.

"Paige! You're alright!" an eevee cheered.

The noon Monday sun briefly peeked from the clouds as the wind signaled signs of the changing season. Along with the wind came sounds of bass-heavy music blasting through the forest from the nearby party. The two eevee and flareon had found a concealed clearing to allow for Paige's recovery.

"No I'm not!" Paige refuted, tossing over. "I just got beat by a member of Kieren's cult of stupid!"

"Enough with the arrogance!" Andy scolded. "They're a tough bunch. That vulpix girl's got a wicked flamethrower. We all know what Trent is capable of, and Kat proved today that she is not one to mess with. I wouldn't be surprised if Caleb was hiding a similar caliber of tough."

"Hiding? His muscles were popping out of his skin!" Connor contended.

"Fair point," Andy admitted.

"Ugh. So are we done with those losers now?" Paige whined.

"Hold on! I'm still totally out of the loop here. What was that nightmare thing about?" Connor asked.

"You never heard?" Andy asked in disbelief.

Connor shook his head.

"Well, I will keep it short," Andy announced. "A few years ago, the tribe attacked Kieren when he refused to give up his alpha birthright. Trent had his leg snapped when he tried to interfere, hence his scar."

"Wow. And I thought Kat had it rough," Connor commented, gazing down at his front paws.

"What are you talking about? Kieren is cursed!" Paige argued, nearly slapping him with her tail.

"Perhaps," Connor gave in. "There's no arguing until we learn what Kieren is and why."

"And that's Trent's job," Andy asserted. "It was in our agreement. Right now our focus is Kat."

"Still?" Paige cried. "Didn't she already say she had no interest joining us?"

"We still haven't apologized," Andy answered sternly.

"You haven't. Count me out," Paige scoffed, already walking away.

"Fine," Andy replied. "Let's head back to the party before the late risers arrive."

It had been an hour of stories and tears since Andy and company had left, and fortunately, the tales were becoming more and more humorous lightening the mood. Trent and Kat had started reenacting some of the stories which was leading into the topic of Kieren's talent for nailing impressions.

"I've always remembered when your dad mistook him for Solano while he was telling Drake about how Solano and Bella were walking together and Bella accidently nudged him down the hill into the lake," Caleb recalled.

"Haha. I remember that, and then he perfectly matched Drake's reaction in time," Trent added. "Impression's Legit!"

"Melody. What's wrong?" Kat asked the staring vulpix.

"Oh, nothing," Melody answered softly without altering her stare. "I was just recalling our adventure golfing, when he was telling me about his grandfather."

"Really? How did that come up?" Trent asked, nearly spewing fire in excitement.

"Well, to be honest, before then, I didn't really know much about how your tribe traditions work and such," Melody confessed. "So I was asking him about some of those things and it just came up." Her face firmed tense as her thoughts drifted. "Which reminds me, we still don't know what he is and I need to go find him and make sure he is alright. What are your plans?"

"Hmm. I'm afraid I don't have one yet," Trent contemplated. Melody turned towards the forest exit while Trent and Kat stared at the ground in thought. Before she could leave though, Kat broke the silence.

"Hey Trent?"

"Yea. What is it?" Trent asked, waking from his mental paralysis.

"When you talked with the lapras, did they say anything about Celestia?" Kat asked inquisitively. Her ears perked as Trent's blank expression morphed into an anticipating grin. Melody, half stride towards the forest, turned back towards the group in curiosity.

"Yea!" Trent confided. "Tara said Celestia tells her everything!" He beckoned the others in close. "So here's the deal. Celestia has her hands full at the moment with the party and everything. We need to delay her conversation with Tara as long as possible until we have a way of intercepting the information. For now on, we'll take shifts occupying the shoreline. I'll guard the place when Kat leaves for her studies. Caleb, can I count on you to cover the afternoons?" Caleb nodded. "At least one of those two must know something, so we can't afford to let their exchange pass. In the meantime, keep an eye out for Drake. If you catch him, see if he knows what's up. He's been oddly addicted to his research as of late."

"Right," Kat responded.

"Not to be a party pooper, but what if Celestia finds out?" Melody asked.

"We need a code word for this mission," Kat decided.

"What would humans use for something like this?" Caleb asked Melody.

"Hmm. Abbreviations maybe?" Melody contemplated, biting her lip. "How about O.A.I.?"

"Weird," Kat commented.

"What does it stand for?" Caleb asked.

"Operation Alpha Intel."

"What's intel?" Caleb queried.

"Intelligence," Kat and Trent both answered.

"I like it!" Kat beamed. "Operation Alpha Intel shall start in

3…

2…

1…"

* * *

 **Author's Note:** **Yep. Totally a short chapter. I hope you found it worth your time reading regardless. Don't forget about bonus chapter opportunities and the name submissions. Stay safe this summer, and do your best to enjoy it! ~Dreaming I'm Latios**


	22. 22) The Battery Bros

**Author's Note:**

 **Hey everyone! Sorry for the not-so-great chapters as of late. Due to work and some game dev activities, I haven't had nearly as much time to write as I need, which means these chapters aren't quite as polished as I would like them to be. Hopefully I make up for that with this LONG chapter.**

* * *

 **Miril2050: First fic? You picked a weird one to start with. But thanks for sticking around!**

 **Phillip Harbindinger: You would be correct on the "yea"s. I'm not sure where I got the odd spelling from, or maybe one's the quick neutral response and the other is the enthusiastic response? I'll have to go back and correct them in my master document. Thanks for the point-out. As for your prediction, while I could answer that, I'm not going to. The only thing I will say is that I am going to do my best to not make you mad at the end of the story. I've read a few stories where they kill off a main character right near the end of the story just to add feels or make the ending unexpected. I hate that! I think you will have to really engage in the dynamics of the story to accurately predict the ending, because it isn't as obvious as I assume many of you suspect, but hopefully one you will all appreciate!**

 **Thanks for the typo catch. No worries! I greatly appreciate the feedback. As for the phrasing, I was missing a transition! That's why it seemed incoherent. And the cringe is real! I definitely need to figure out which stories to put there, and build up the dynamic properly. And apparently my body language pass iteration changes at the end of the chapter never saved! Ugh! That makes me mad!**

* * *

 **Alright! So I like this chapter a lot better. There's still probably a few mistakes here or there, but I don't think it's as bad as the last two chapters. Anyways, enjoy this one!**

 **Today is 6/25/2016 and this chapter is 5700+ words!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon, just dream it.**

* * *

Chapter 22: The Battery Bros.

"Muaaaaaaaahyeeeaaaaaaaaah," Kieren yawned as he exited the elevator at exactly 1:26 PM of the LightWay Hotel off of 14th Street and Carmen Drive. Humans were very much a perfect order sort. Everything needed to be exact and have a name. Luckily, Mason the ninetails was able to guide Kieren through the hotel and show him everything he needed to know about food, sleep, and bathroom breaks.

"Humans are weird problem solvers," Kieren thought to himself as he made his way out the front doorway, where the sunlight greeted his face once again. He had bought himself some time to settle and find a new life, thanks to his last adventure with Melody, and now was not the time to waste it! Off to another adventure!

The magical automatic opening doors welcomed Kieren back out onto the street. The life of downtown could be heard only a few streets away. Street by street, the noise grew louder, until Kieren was able to spot the first signs of life, minus the strange human transport systems that spewed choking gas fumes if one got too close. On one side of this new street were several men in clothing that seemed to match the bags they held. They all wore black on their legs and the rest was either blue, purple, or white, with a dangling strip of strange colorful patterns down the middle. All of them were standing in an area marked with white. A giant silver transporter stopped by, and the men flocked inside of it and disappeared as the transporter took off with a smoky, toxic farewell Kieren successfully eluded.

On a bench along the corner of the street, Kieren could see a woman, albeit young, with a strange small rectangle-thing in her hand. She would hold the object in front of her while making strange faces at it. Then she would bring it closer to herself as her thumbs would go wild touching the front side of the purple box. Kieren watched this pattern repeat several times before advancing to the next street.

Finally, Kieren made it to the source of the loud noises - Downtown.

The sheer number of humans and Pokemon, mostly humans, were staggering. Many of them held bags as they walked around between the different shops. Some of them held similar looking devices to the girl on the bench, either mimicking the girl's actions, or holding the thing up to their ears while talking. Two little boys were feeding a nidoran and a zigzagoon while what appeared to be their parents watched them contently. A guy and a girl, both about the same age as the one on the bench, were walking along the opposite side holding hands. A delcatty and crocanaw marched ahead of them. Two younger girls walked out of a shop with blue icy drinks.

Kieren averted his gaze from most of the trainers that walked by. He didn't want to draw attention to himself, especially without the ability to communicate with them. The thought of being with a trainer did cross his mind, and Kieren had to admit, it was a good option. He would make new friends, explore the world, and not have to worry about food and shelter. However, now was not the time. He still had a deal with that Mitch-dude; plus, he never really got a chance to say goodbye to anyone. But after the tournament, after one last trip to the edge of the forest, well that was a likely option. But Kieren would have to choose a trainer carefully if he chose that route. He heard that some could be rather rude and pushy, and many more would not be skilled enough to handle an evolved pokemon. While avoiding the gaze of trainers, Kieren made a game out of how many pokemon he could or could not successfully identify. Surprisingly, he recognized almost all of them from visits his ex-tribe would receive from time to time. A flaaffy, a meinfoo, a spinda, a ghastly and a shuppet that played around with two little girls and their parents, and a grovile, which travelled with a trainer who hid his face with his hat.

"Those two looked kinda lost back there. Think we should help them?" asked a combusken walking ahead of his trainer.

"I wouldn't worry about it," spoke the snivy next to him.

Right behind them were three trainers, the third being a slightly shorter girl with a little fletchling on her shoulder, grooming the girl's hair.

As the group passed by, Kieren began to make out two pokemon he did not recognize standing with giant sheets of paper. He would have guessed they were some form of mutated pichu by their stubby yellow bodies and large ears. One had blue markings with a streak across its cheeks while the other one had red ones outlining crossing streaks of pale. They both possessed colored ears, hands, and tails, with the tails matching each's odd streaks on their cheeks.

"Heyo, looksie! An umbreon! Think he's one of 'em?" Kieren heard the red one ask. He quickly turned away and kept walking, not wanting to be involved in whatever they might be plotting.

"Yo blackie!" the other called for him. "You from da valley?"

"What's it mean to you?" Kieren muttered somewhat dryly without giving a glance.

"Ouch, man. That's cold," the red one told him.

"Shhh! Cut the punk act," the blue one warned with a stiff elbow to the gut. "Something ain't right here." The blue-eared creature turned back to Kieren, who had stopped when he caught the scene play out from the corner of his eye. "Listen umbreon sir. The two of us are from a pokemon city out west of here."

"A pokemon city?" Kieren asked skeptically. He wasn't really in much of a mood for these weirdos. But their question meant he couldn't ignore them yet.

"Yeah! We from dis place kinda like dis here, 'cept instead of all dese humans runnin' everything, Pokemon are in charge!" the red one explained, throwing its stubby arms up in the air dramatically.

"Yo man. We're lookin' for the Valley Reserve. Legend says a powerful tribe based on eevee and its evos are down there," the blue one interrupted.

"Oh. Them," Kieren huffed as he turned to resume his path across downtown. "Across the walking path bridge on the outside of downtown, take a right until you see an entrance to the forest."

Kieren ignored whatever the two said and began on his way, but just as he shifted focus on what lied ahead, the two came tumbling back in front of him.

"Yo blackie!" the blue one shouted.

"Whaaa? What do you two want?" Kieren spat a bit annoyed.

"Sorry to bother ya, blackie, but you're one of them, right?" the blue one asked.

"Was," Kieren answered as he stepped around the two.

"Wait!" the red one squealed as the he tried to cut him off.

"Right. Don't mention me," Kieren quickly answered. "And don't contradict their leader or things'll get primitive!"

Kieren could hear an audible gulp in the red one's throat as he left their vicinity. He also heard the blue one's reaction to his partner as they faded away.

"What's the matter with you, Eddie? You don't just pester someone like that immediately after they reveal to you something dark from their personal life! You're lucky he didn't trample ya and send ya to the ER with a broken e…"

Kieren wondered if he eventually needed to get as far away from the area as possible so he didn't have to be reminded of his past. The trainer option was looking better and better. Those two had also mentioned something about a "Pokemon City"? Drake had mentioned the phrase before, but now it was confirmed that such a thing probably existed. How did the lapras know so much about the outside world, anyway?

Just as the first thoughts of painful memories returned, the sound of a lake battle caught his ears. Curious as to the noise, he cautiously trotted over to see the commotion.

He was surprised to discover that it wasn't a battle at all. Instead, he saw a small pond filled with little kids and their pokemon. The pond wasn't like any normal pond he had imagined, but was formed by pavement and had weird waterfall-like contraptions. Despite its unnaturalness, it was entertaining everyone around, which Kieren justified as a good enough reason for its existence.

Glancing around, Kieren noticed a small patch of grass in the corner underneath the shade of a maple tree that seemed somewhat out-of-place in the city. Fairly exhausted from walking for the last hour on the hard pavement, Kieren decided it a better time than any to lay down in the shade and watch the kids and their pokemon have fun in the water.

There appeared to be three different 'parts' to the pond. The first was very basic, consisting of only shallow water. An azurill was joyously being chased around in the water by a bunch of little girls. She had just weaved through all of them to the other edge of the clearing where she was playfully taunting them. A little boy, who was apparently also part of this game, was very quietly sneaking up behind the bouncing blue ball. At first, he had tried taking careful steps to make as small of a splash as possible with each step. However, he quickly learned he could approach much more quietly by dragging his feet under the water slow enough to not disturb the water's surface any more than the splashing azurill did. As he got close, he held his breath. He reached out his arms and leaned his body forwards until he was inches away from the azurill. As sudden as a lightning strike, he dove at the azurill with a large splash.

Unfortunately for him, the azurill had sensed him the entire time, and at the last moment, sprung into the air with its tail. She bounced down on his head before landing to the side and chanting, "Gotcha! I win!" The kid who had just had his face shoved under the water looked up, only to redden at the girls' giggling fits. Kieren couldn't help but lightly chuckle at the scene.

After watching the azurill outmaneuver the kids for several more minutes, Kieren shifted his lazy gaze over to the second part of the pond, which had been previously unoccupied. Small "geysers", as a vaporeon had once called them, jumped out of the water in fixed seemingly random locations. Several kids were trying to suppress them using their hands, feet, butts, and whatever other creative posture they could come up with to block all of them. What Kieren noticed was that every time a geyser was blocked, the others grew in size. Eventually all of the geysers seemed to be manned (but not necessarily blocked) except for one.

"Hey Ally, can you come block this one for us?" one of the boys in the group asked. All of the kids gave each other knowing glances as a young girl with blond hair wearing a blue bikini ran over to them. As soon as she reached the unmanned geyser, the geyser exploded into her face before shooting upwards and crashing back down on the rest of her body.

She quickly backed away and wiped her eyes muttering, "Oh… my gosh!" "Stacie!" she called up to where she came from outside the pond. "Look what they did to me!"

To Ally's horror, her presumed friend Stacie walked past her and told the group, "My turn!" before leaning over the small geyser. The group gave a short countdown before causing the geyser to explode like before. The girl seemed shocked after it was all over, but asked for the guys to do it again, which they did. Kieren assumed she was enjoying some kind of adrenaline rush by her strange facial expression. Many others got curious, including Ally, and soon, all the kids were trying to invent new ways to make the experience as wet as possible.

Nothing they tried, however, could compare to what was going on at the third part of the pond. Three towers of strange contraptions spit out water onto obstacles that scattered it. The two smaller towers were identical. Kieren observed some of the kids playing with one of them and noticed how when parts of the tower's base were rotated, certain obstacles and water sources also rotated. Other strange levers and gears seemed to also have effects on the large tower. In some parts attached to the towers, the water would fill into buckets. Once the buckets got too heavy, they would dump their contents down, sometimes on more contraptions that scattered the water, and sometimes, directly on the head of an oblivious bidoof.

As for the third tower, no one really cared to play with it, and soon Kieren could see why. All of the rotating water sources and obstacles were placed in such a precise orientation. The water from the tower as well as its larger neighbor accumulated into one place forming a small but steady waterfall. Sitting underneath the waterfall was a young girl with dark brown hair. Her legs were crossed in front of her as she sat up, letting the full force of the water crash onto her head and run down all sides of her body. Next to her was a mudkip, which she massaged with her hand and spoke to. The two were perfectly relaxed, as if they were sitting on a bench on the street, except here a layer of water was constantly wrapping the girl's entire being. Kieren was tempted to get up and ask the mudkip if the girl had arranged the water to flow like that to begin with. However, he wasn't sure if he was allowed to enter the pond, so he remained where he was at, and closed his eyes.

* * *

"Ding!"

"Do you think he'll show up?" Kat asked.

"I don't know. It wouldn't surprise me if he didn't," Trent answered. His fur was ruffled slightly with unease.

"When's the last time you've seen him?" Kat asked, beginning to worry more.

"Right this instant!" shouted the water, accompanied by a brilliant white splash invoking Trent to step back a few paces. "Seriously, you two could not have timed your arrival any better," Drake hastily applauded. He finished with a deep exhale of air.

"How so?" Kat asked, completely missing Drake's body language and facial expression that screamed "Just escaped stressful situation!" Trent was about to intervene, but Drake was quicker on the trigger.

"Mom is being difficult, and I'm starting to get fed up with it!" he huffed.

"Would this be a bad time to ask about things concerning Kieren?" Trent tried.

Drake inhaled another deep breath and closed his eyes. After a few seconds, Kat nudged Trent.

"Perhaps we ought to change topics," she whispered. "He may not even know what happened to Kieren."

Trent nodded, and just as he was about to ask Drake what golfing was, Drake raised his fin. Kat and Trent stopped, realizing this was now a game of patience. After a few seconds, Drake finally looked up and opened his eyes, immediately catching the attention of the two in front of him.

"Sorry. I needed to clear my thoughts. As for what happened to Kieren, Kat, he told me everything on his way out. In case you need to track him down, the species name is 'Umbreon'."

"Umbreon," Trent tried on his tongue. "We'll have to inform Melody about that."

"As for the other things that happened," Drake continued, in a serious, yet wisdom-like tone only his species could pull off, "I don't want to say anything misleading, and there's still some things that don't quite make sense. Mother isn't helping either, which is why I need you two."

"Us?" Kat gasped. "We didn't even know what he was until you told us!" she complained.

"Irrelevant!" Drake asserted. "Trent, you remember Tara's conversation with Kieren, right?"

Trent nodded. "I think I know where this is going. Celestia tells Tara everything?"

Kat knowingly grinned.

"Exactly. This may sound shady, but I want to…"

"Eavesdrop on their next conversation and find out what they've been hiding," Kat interrupted. "Welcome to Operation Alpha Intel, or O-A-I for short!"

Drake raised an eyebrow.

"Melody came up with the name," Trent established.

"Creatively lacking, but I'll roll with it," Drake remarked.

"Right now, we are guarding the shore to prevent the conversation from happening until we find a way to successfully eavesdrop on it," Kat continued.

"I see," the lapras acknowledged. "Well, since I am now a part of OAI, how about we fix that part of the plan a little bit?" Drake offered.

"Huh?" Kat gasped astonished. Trent just raised an eyebrow.

"There is a party going on right now, is there not?" Drake began seriously.

Trent nodded.

"You know how they have those tables full of equipment?"

Trent and Kat nodded again.

"And there's always one that's never used?" Drake continued.

"It never works," Trent commented.

"That's because it's not a music player," Drake began before taking in a deep breath. "It's a recorder," he said while dropping his stare to the ground.

"What?" Trent and Kat asked simultaneously.

"Let me guess, you want us to persuade the crew to let us try and fix the table, take off with it, hide it somehow, and then record Celestia and Tara when they feel comfortable talking?" Trent guessed.

"If it isn't too much to handle. You two catch on quick," Drake complemented.

* * *

"Hey! Umbreon!"

"Ugh," Kieren moaned.

"Umbreon! Over here!"

"What's going on?" Kieren mumbled. Was someone calling for him? He was an umbreon, right? As soon as he realized what he had just asked himself, his eyes darted open and he sprung to his feet, fully alert and cautious of whatever was trying to get his attention.

"This way!" the voice called, pulling Kieren's attention towards the street. Realizing he didn't have a clear view of who was calling for him, he cautiously approached the street, sticking along the fence. On the other side of the road were some people wearing striped orange shirts and hats. With them were several machoke, carrying logs made of some man-made material.

"There you are," said one of the men, turning to Kieren. "Would you mind helping us with one thing? We promise we won't try anything funny. I can get you a drink in return."

Kieren stared at the man hesitantly.

"Don't worry man," said a machoke. "He won't try and catch you or anything. We just need someone small with a stable footing to help us for a bit."

Kieren retreated a step, narrowing his gaze to hide his fear with skepticism.

"Relax. No need to panic. Unfortunately this isn't the first time we've had something like this happen," the machoke stated, rubbing the back of his neck somewhat sheepishly. "In the past we found Pokemon that could help us and in return gave them something to eat or drink. And then they went back to whatever they were doing before. But we really need help from someone like you right now."

Kieren let his gaze relax slightly. He still wasn't in, but the two of them sounded honest, and somewhat desperate, so he'd hear them out.

"Umbreon, do you see that tall thing?" the man asked, pointing at something.

Kieren looked up and indeed there was a giant tall thing. He had no idea what it was, but it fit the basic description the man gave.

"So it has this loop hanging down from it. Could you climb up onto that beam and attach it?"

Kieren looked up and quickly caught on to the dilemma. There was an intricate pattern of "beams" as the man had called them that lead up to a large cliff where a few men were standing. One beam in particular seemed like it should have been connected to the cliff, but instead it was drooping in the opposite direction. Without the beam being connected, it would have been difficult for a human or a machoke to reach the beam's perch since the surrounding beams were too narrow. However, it would be a cinch for Kieren. With a nod, Kieren crossed the street and began his climb up the intricate 3D pattern. His slim build, four limbs, and low profile made it easy for him to navigate the narrow beams as he made the ascent. The beams were of some man-made material, and were extremely stable. Soon Kieren grew comfortable with their feel and began jumping across gaps from one beam to the next.

"He makes that look so easy," Kieren could hear one machoke say. Kieren couldn't help but look back with a slight grin. It WAS easy. In just a matter of moments, Kieren had already reached the end of the droopy beam, still stable enough to support him upright despite its disconnected state.

"Great, now wrap the loop around the beam you are standing on," one of the men instructed. Kieren saw a rope with a loop on the end dangling in front of him. The other end was attached to the giant tall thing. Without too much effort, Kieren successfully had a hold of the rope and strung the hole around the disconnected end. He turned back towards the others on the cliff across the gap.

"One last thing, there's a loose end on the loop. Can you yank on that until it's tight?"

Kieren didn't need any more explanation. He had already recognized the type of knot the loop was tied in. His ex-tribe would use ropes with similarly tied knots to lift fallen trees after storms.

With the rope clenched in his teeth, he told his muscles to push away from the knot's center. He could hear the rope slip until it no longer gave in to him. He turned around to see that the loop around the beam was pulled tight around the edges. The machoke on the platform gave Kieren a thumbs up, and Kieren turned to make his descent.

* * *

Boom! Boom! Smack! Tch Tch!

And at once, everyone was bouncing in rhythm to the music that enveloped the forest. Everyone except Connor, who was too preoccupied by a red flash he thought he had spotted in the forest beyond the clearing. Intrigued by the fact that someone was hiding just outside the party, he decided to investigate. Andy took notice and chased after the young eevee.

"Hey! What's up!" he asked.

"I saw someone," Connor answered hushed and on alert.

"Wait, what?" Andy exclaimed. "Where?"

"Over there," Connor directed, his fur stiff with excitement and anticipation for adventure. The two of them glanced at each other and dove into the forest and out of sight of the party.

"Andy?" a voice whispered, freezing the two in their tracks.

"Both the flareon and the eevee looked up to see a similar duo standing on the outskirts staring at them.

"Trent! And Kat!" Connor exclaimed. He and Andy rushed over to them.

"What the hell are you two doing here? This place will drive you insane!" Andy greeted.

"We need to borrow some unused equipment, specifically the broken DJ kit," Trent answered seriously. He turned to continue walking, not wanting his mission to be interfered with.

Andy began staring at his feet while the two passed him without regard. He had decided that it was now or never to regain their trust.

"Wait!" Andy shouted, drawing the attention of the other three.

"If you don't mind, we're kinda busy and don't have time for games," Kat told him. She had that same determined expression she carried when she destroyed Paige in battle earlier.

"Kat! Just listen to me!" Andy countered.

"Fine. What is it?" Kat gave in.

"Kat! I want to apologize for the time I betrayed you eight years ago."

"That was eight years ago!" was Kat's response. She turned back to glare at him. "Why?"

Andy inhaled, taking a brief moment to solidify his thoughts.

"Because I lost something important to me, and while it took me damn forever, I finally see my fault. I lost your friendship, and I lost your trust. This apology is long overdue, so right now I am apologizing for everything. For doubting you, ever since the day you left the training squad. For not sticking up for you, and leaving you alone for so long. And for being too ignorant to realize that you were hiding a bigger issue from us. Kat, we used to be good friends way back then. I'm sorry for ruining that. It is perfectly reasonable if you cannot forgive me, but I wanted to let you know I truly, truly regret everything."

"I'm sorry too," Connor confessed. "Until recently, I had no idea just how unfairly neglected you were."

Trent watched carefully to make sure they weren't pulling any tricks, but what they said seemed genuine. He looked back at Kat, unsure how she would react. They all waited a full minute. Andy watched in genuine sorrow. Connor was trying to reimagine all the times Kat was neglected and shunned by him and his friends whenever she passed by. Trent continued studying all of their expressions.

Kat didn't say anything, but Trent noticed tears starting to escape. He quickly embraced her to try to keep her calm. After a few moments of sniffling, her face changed from grief to deep contemplation. Finally, she sighed. "Sorry, but it is really hard for me to accept your word after so long. It'll take a while until I can trust you."

"That's fine. You should still get away from here though," Andy warned. "Let Connor and I get that kit for you. Dock work?"

Kat nodded.

"You sure about this?" Trent asked, both skeptical and concerned.

"Count on it!" Andy answered defiantly. "It was in the way anyways."

* * *

"That was some impressive agility," spoke a friendly machoke after taking a sip from his bottled beverage. "You have a trainer?"

"Nope," Kieren answered. He bit the bottle and raised it with his left paw, successfully pouring the contents into his mouth. His eyes blew open at the taste. "This is really good! What's it made from?"

The two of them were sitting on a bench, watching the people on the platform try to move the beam back in place.

"It's strawberry moomoo milk. Fresh from miltank and mixed with a strawberry blend," the machoke answered. "So I'm guessing you're new to the city then?"

"You could say that," Kieren answered, taking another sip of possibly his new favorite beverage. "Mind my ignorance, but do you mind telling me what you lot are doing?"

"Well, we're one of the few local construction companies in this city, which means we build things like buildings and roads," the machoke explained with added hand gestures.

"That explains a lot," Kieren acknowledged with a nod. "So what exactly are you guys building anyways?"

"See all that water over there?" the machoke asked while pointing back at the pond.

Kieren nodded.

"The place is called a splash park. It is free to people and pokemon to cool off in the summer," the machoke explained, while leaning back against the bench. "You see that girl over there next to the mudkip? She's one of the trainers at the new gym. Gyms are places where trainers can test their skills. Each gym is led by a gym leader, one of the strongest trainers in the region. Defeating a gym leader is an impressive feat. Few succeed, yet many try and work towards improvement. Anyways, the gym leader requested we build another splash park, except it will be hidden by a wall, and instead of water, will be filled with some other thing the gym trainers are fond of, except that girl. She just arranges all that water to fall right where she's sitting. Anyways, I have to get back to work. It was nice chatting with ya. Feel free to stop by tomorrow. We might just need your help again. Haha. Take care!"

Kieren stared as the machoke stood up and disappeared into the construction site. The machoke's ramblings left him with more questions than answers, but also a lot of hope. If he was going to find a competent trainer, then perhaps this gym place could possibly play a beneficial role in his search?

"But what the heck would you prefer in a pond over water?" Kieren asked himself as he hopped off the bench and began his return back to the hotel.

* * *

Following another hardy meal with Mason, Kieren was back out on the street exploring another sector of Eon City. The sun was slowly showing signs of departing, and the changing sky exposed new tints previously hidden inside the skyscraper walls.

"Hey Mr. Umbreon!" called a voice Kieren thought he recognized. He turned only to realize he was looking at the two weirdos that had harassed him earlier that day. He was about to look away, but the blue one's actions surprised him.

"Is this you?" the blue one asked, pointing to the wall.

Either those two were clearly mental, or they were pointing out a serious threat. Wishing to ensure the former, Kieren silently approached and examined the paper hung to the wall the two were pointing at. Sure enough, there he was, or rather a picture of him, right smack in the middle of the paper! Kieren jumped back in alarm.

"It says you're a golfing prodigy entering the next tournament," the blue one told him.

"Oh," Kieren sighed. "That's right." Realizing that it was all a false alarm, Kieren paused to dictate his next course of action, when he suddenly realized what the blue creature just did. "Wait? You can read?" Nevermind being mental, these two had Melody intelligence!

"Yea, we're from a Pokemon city," the blue one explained.

"So you like really good atta golfing?" the red one interrupted.

"I only tried it once," Kieren admitted. The blue one accepted his answer without question and turned back to the poster. Anticipating the gap in silence, the red one peeped in.

"You can't read? What kind of powerful… UGH!"

"Anyways!" the blue one emphasized impatiently as the red one mumbled something while rubbing his stomach. "Says here winner gets a cash prize of dang! Y'can buy a shack with dat dough"

"Shack?" Kieren asked confused.

"Dat's right! You dee outdoorsy type. Ya'know how humans live en em indoor places?" the red one asked.

"Houses?" Kieren asked, recalling a few details from Melody's lecture.

"Yep! Like the ones down this street here, but for city poke's," the blue one explained.

"Roof, bed, bath, mailbox, the works!" the red one chimed, raising his stubby arms up in the air again.

Kieren stared blankly in response.

"Say, how long you've been in the city?" the blue one asked.

"Not long," Kieren responded casually. These two were still kinda weird, but they had information, and he was in a better mood now.

"You been to Eon Park Square?" the blue one asked.

"Haven't heard of it," Kieren answered.

"Would you like us to give you a tour, since you were headed that way anyways? I'm Leon, by the way," the blue one offered.

"Kieren," Kieren introduced himself. The weirdos could read, and they were offering to teach him things. Plus this conversation was going much smoother. He'd give them a second chance.

"Nice meeting you, Kieren. That plusle there is my brother Eddie," Leon explained while Eddie was distracted by a shiny thing on the ground. "Sorry for his inappropriate behavior."

"It's fine," Kieren waved. "I could use a few friends to teach me city things."

"Well let's get going then!" Leon cheered. "Eddie, you go on ahead and count how many golf posters you see."

Eddie did not hesitate to dash off down the road and nearly out of sight.

"What's he counting for?" Kieren asked as he and Leon turned about and began walking towards Eddie's general direction.

"Keeps him busy," Leon answered absentmindedly. Kieren broke a grin.

"Plusle, huh?" Kieren tested his tongue.

"Yep. I'm a minun in case you're wondering. Care to tell me all about your adventures in the city? I'd love to hear how you got into the golfing tournament!"

Kieren chuckled to himself. "Well, this is my sixth day here. I received a tour the first day from a friend, and then we went golfing. I spent the next four days in the PCER, and now I'm here."

"You were in the PCER for four days?" Leon nearly freaked. "What happened?"

"I got hit by a stray ball on my last putt on the last hole," Kieren answered casually, unbothered by the mishap.

"And you're golfing again in a tournament? I would be traumatized!" Leon confessed emphatically.

"Good luck! Kid," Kieren uttered with a tap and a knowing grin. The minun turned to him in puzzled awe, provoking an amused look from the black creature. "Which reminds me, what made you two decide to visit the valley?"

Leon glanced over at the umbreon with a concerned look. When Kieren showed no signs of pain, Leon answered brightly.

"Eddie and I make a backup band called the Battery Bros."

"The Battery Bros?"

"Yea. It's actually our family name. I'm Leon Battery. We're not like an ordinary band though since it's just the two of us. Instead we team up with solo musicians and put on live shows. We were hoping to get some business in the valley, but between you and that other girl, we've backed off that idea."

"Other girl? I think I know who you're talking about," Kieren commented. Quickly not wanting to shift topics to his past, he followed up with more questions. "So music, huh? What instruments do you play?"

"I play just about anything: guitar, bass, keyboard, a couple times even the violin. Depends on what our client needs," the minun answered while humbly rubbing a fake itch behind his ear.

"And your brother?" Kieren asked curiously while taking a glance at the zigzagoon-wannabe Eddie ahead.

"He plays drums," Leon answered. "Keeps him busy."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** **Wow! That was a long chapter! It won't be the last of them either! There's a few coming up like this. Because of that, and because I haven't had as much time lately, I'm going to raise the stakes a bit for the bonus chapter. Don't worry! This isn't permanent! A couple of you have sent some really good name suggestions publicly and privately! And while I have some candidates, it'd be really cool if I could get a good list of them, because your suggestions have been really good, and as you probably know, have been filling up other character name slots left and right! So for the bonus chapter, I'm going to request three more name suggestions between at least two different people. I think that's fair, right? Feel free to start some forum or something to discuss it and PM me the link, if that works better. Anyways, for all of you in the States, safe travels for the upcoming holiday! Just think, 10 more years… See you all next time! ~Dreaming I'm Latios**


	23. 23) Eon Park Square

**Author's Note:**

 **Hello everyone! Sorry for the missing update last week! I was out of town and all my down-time when I was planning to write got eaten up by family requests related to technology. Unfortunately, next weekend will be a similar story. I'm not looking forward to it. I lose a day of writing and a day of VR work outside my internship. But yea. I've been totally addicted to VR stuff as of late. Maybe some of you might already know this, but I have a very visionary mind capable of vividly subconsciously simulating and experiencing fictional alternate realities with logical timelines and sequences of events. My username comes from the largest of these by the way, which is where I gather a lot of my inspiration for my writing. Well what is so cool about VR is the possibility to allow others to experience these worlds in full consciousness! Anyways, I'm working right now to create a demo VR test-suite for different types of room-scale inputs, and I'll probably make it Pokemon themed for practical reasons. Anyways, if you are interested, you should PM me.**

* * *

 **Dusky Flareon: Celestia? Oh! Wait! I see where you are coming from now. Interesting… If it doesn't make more sense by chapter 24, it'll make sense by chapter 26. As for the moon shard, Kieren did admit that the "guardian" gave it to him, so it is an issue of validation and explanation. But don't worry! Things will definitely go down, eventually.**

 **But hey! An event submission! I definitely wasn't expecting that, given the name suggestion thing is a much higher priority at the moment, but that is totally I thing I do. I'll be honest, the moment I read it, I had a vision come to my head that instantly made me start cracking up.**

 **Phillip Harbindinger: Dang! And that was my longest chapter too! No promises moving forward, but hopefully by the time I finish this story I will have all the chapters updated error-free.**

* * *

 **Thanks to everyone for all the name suggestions so far! Keep them coming! I won't stop accepting entries until I upload chapter 26!**

 **As for this chapter, it's a bit shorter than the last one, but after this, the next few chapters will be long again. Also, in my visions, the term "nightcore" has a very different meaning to what it means in the real world. In my visions, it is a fusion between pop music and hard rock/metal with a heavy emphasis on melody. Basically it has the power of metal, but actual singing instead of screaming. No drugs either. Those are the Roxy mockoffs. Sorry for the rambling. Here is your chapter! Enjoy!**

 **Today is 7/9/2016 and this chapter is 1300+ words.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon, just dream it.**

* * *

Chapter 23: Eon Park Square

The air was beginning to cool as the sights and sounds intensified around a befuddled umbreon. The area looked just like downtown. There were shops, food courts, benches, and lots of pokemon. But that was it. Just pokemon. Not a human to be seen. The fact that these pokemon could be so humanlike was a bit shocking. Then again, this also seemed like the kind of place Melody would hang out at. She could read all the signs, manage paperwork, and all that other city stuff. Were all these pokemon just like her?

"So I know you can read and write and stuff, but can you speak human?" Kieren asked Leon as they entered through the gates.

"What kind of Pokemon speaks human?" Leon choked, on the verge of laughing out loud.

"I know a few," Kieren answered casually. Recognizing that the conversation would likely lead to telling a long story, he quickly changed the subject. "So what kinds of things do pokemon buy and sell?"

"Whatever a pokemon might want," Leon answered. "Headwear and jewelry are pretty popular. Food is obvious. There's a lot of different places tailored towards different kinds of pokemon. Oh, and electronics."

"Electronics?"

"Yea, like sound systems, headphones, video games, navis, not the 'Hey, Listen!' kind…"

"Huh?" Kieren asked, not fully comprehending the minun's rambling jargon.

"Nevermind. You'll catch on later," Leon dismissed. "This big building to your left is the grocery store. They've got so much stuff sometimes trainers will send their pokemon there."

"What kind of pokemon is that?" Kieren asked, pointing at the logo next to words he wished he understood.

"You've never met a tropius?" Leon asked. Kieren shook his head. "They're really nice."

Before Kieren could ask more, the two were nearly run over by a couple of phanpy shouting "Mama!" as they ran up to a donphan exiting the grocery store. Kieren turned towards where they had stampeded from and noticed what appeared to be another man-made attraction with all sorts of odd structures young pokemon were bouncing and swinging on.

"That's the park playground," Leon explained anticipating Kieren's next question. "It's where a lot of kids let out their excess energy. Eddie's over at the merry-go-round as usual. Up ahead is the bank where I need to make a stop. We'll go through the walk-through."

Kieren followed the minun as they approached an odd building with an outdoor roof, or was it an archway? Kieren wasn't sure what the appropriate term for it was, but that was where they went. Leon walked up to a window on the side of the building, and was greeted by a psyduck on the other side.

"How can I help you?" the psyduck recited. "Oh, Leon! It's you! I got a client for you. A liligant from one of the gym move-ins was planning a Sunday gig at 9 and was looking for a little backup. I told her you two were perfect for the job."

"Sweet! Thanks Clyde!" Leon answered enthusiastically.

"No problem. What brings you here t…" The psyduck paused briefly as he realized Kieren's presence. "My apologies. I didn't even realize you had someone with you."

"Oh. This is Kieren. He's new to the city, so I'm showing him around. He's entering in the Eon Invitational coming up."

"I see," Clyde nodded. "Now that you mention it, I do recall seeing his portrait on a poster by the splash park. So what's it for you today?"

"Yea...I know I'm running low on funds, but I got to make a withdrawal of about 2k," Leon answered fidgeting.

"Relax. We received your aftercut from your last gig in Sentos." The psyduck explained much to the minun's relief. "Besides, you're a good group to keep around. Most in the music business hit the red and take years before they are back in black. You still don't even have a loan on record yet!"

"Thanks. I guess I didn't realize how fortunate we've been," Leon confessed while rubbing behind his ear. "So did the liligant mention a style or genre?"

"Nightcore," the psyduck answered while handing over several notes to the minun.

"Whoah! Was not expecting that!" Leon uttered. "I'll catch the details later and figure out arrangements. First I gotta finish showing this guy around."

"Sounds good. I'll see ya later," Clyde waved.

"I don't expect you to understand a quarter of that conversation," Leon told Kieren as they departed.

Kieren unintentionally ignored Leon. He was too busy wrapping his brain around what he had just observed. All the equipment inside the window was so human-y, and yet a pokemon was the one managing it all! There were sheets of paper on the walls which must have explained some kind of policies or something. There was that hi-tech machine with all the small buttons and a movable clicky one. There was even a nametag on the windowsill that somehow read the name "Clyde". And the craziest part was that the psyduck was running everything, bashing away at all the buttons, and counting the currency just like a human would. Pokemon here seemed to live just like humans, as if they were humans. It was so different from the world Kieren came from. He always knew humans were crazy about these kinds of things, but he never guessed that pokemon could be the same way.

This sudden realization only continued to manifest itself as Kieren was introduced to all the different shops selling hats, winter gear, jewelry, specialty foods, and strange rectangular devices resembling the ones the humans on the benches handled with bizarre interest. Speaking of those strange rectangular devices, he was now admiring a row of them on a shelf, and each one was painted with a cryptic image of symbols and text. One of the rectangles had a much clearer and vibrant version of the cryptic image painted on it. Wondering what made it so different, Kieren took a closer look.

"Holy…!" Kieren failed to pronounce as he jumped back and nearly toppled the shelf behind him when the image on the rectangle changed. The electric charmander with a modified vaporeon necklace laughed at him from behind the counter.

"Country guy, eh?" the lizard-like creature commented.

"Seems that way," Leon answered to the pokemon Kieren had never seen before. It was a helio-something by the way it pronounced its words. By the time Kieren and Leon left the store, it had finally clicked that those rectangles called "phones" used the same technology as the giant stage screen at the Evelecense Ceremony. He had also managed to pick up the fact that the first two characters in the "tenfold" symbol actually meant "ten" when Leon read the time from one of the "phones" on display at the doorway.

"Eight-ten, huh?" Kieren repeated. "I'll have to get going soon if I want to find my way back to where I'm supposed to be tonight."

"Where ya staying?" Leon asked, seemingly unsettled by Kieren's announced departure.

"Hotel downtown. It's a temporary deal with the golf people," Kieren answered.

"Mind if I show you one last place before you go?" Leon asked quickly.

"I guess?" Kieren answered, slightly curious and slightly uneasy about what Leon wanted to show him so badly. The two began walking down the tiled road that was surprisingly comfortable for walking.

"May I ask you something?" Kieren asked the minun next to him.

"Fire away," Leon sang.

"Not to be rude or anything, but why are you showing me all this?" Kieren asked.

Leon chuckled at the question. "Well one, it's my way of making up for Eddie's rudeness earlier. Two, you're an umbreon from da Valley. Nevermind your past, that makes you pretty badass. And three, it's a good excuse for me to not watch Eddie for a little bit. Anyways, there's someone I want you to meet!"

* * *

 **Author's Note:** **Who's Kieren going to meet? Find out next chapter! It's one of my favorite characters to write! This time, for the bonus chapter, I'm requiring 7 name submissions with their meanings listed (because the meaning of the name is important to the plot). You have two weeks, so don't let the quantity faze you. Next chapter is over 5k words, so it'll be worth it. I'd start a forum thread, but I'm not sure if you would use that, so I'll leave that up to you. Anyways, I got a lot of writing left to do today. See you all in two weeks! ~Dreaming I'm Latios**


	24. 24) Holding Out

**Author's Notes:**

 **Hey everyone! I'm back with a lot of updates! (Hopefully this is the last long pre-chapter AN this summer.) Skip ahead if you aren't an interactive reader.**

 **First off, about the bonus chapter… We didn't do so hot on the name suggestions. Let me clarify a few misconceptions. For any of my submissions as of now, you are NOT limited to one submission. You can submit as many ideas as you want, as often as you want! Also, for those of you who PM me, I often comment on your suggestions. That isn't me shooting down the name. It's just my way of assuring you that I received the suggestion why simultaneously being thought provoking. With that said, I'm not mad that we didn't do so well. It wouldn't be bonus if I expected it. I know many of you just follow along and don't really want to interact for whatever reasons. That's cool too. Truth be told, I don't review stories I read unless I see the disclaimers that neither time of review or harshness of criticism matter, so I don't feel awkward posting a really critical review two years after the story is finished. By the way, I do have such disclaimers in place, so no matter what the circumstances nor the year on the calendar, your reviews are welcome! Then again, this story still has a long ways to go.**

 **So speaking of stories I read, last weekend during my nightmare trip without my laptop, I picked out a story to binge read on my phone. It turned out I deeply regretted my choice. It started out with so much potential, but ultimately never made any sense. Anyways, I don't typically share the stories I read publicly, but if you are really curious about my recommendations, you can PM me. Also, if you have a story you want my feedback on, or simply have a story to recommend, I'd be very interested!**

 **Last news update: Unfortunately, next week is going to be yet another no-show week from yours truly. I deeply apologize for three of these on-off situations in a row, but I'm sure you're all just enjoying the Go craze anyways! Anyways, I'm going to be at Dakota Game Con in the middle of nowhere as I usually am. If by any off chance you'll be there, you'll find me with the others from GCO. We're looking to host some kind of tournament there.**

 **So regarding bonus chapters, I am asking for 5 name suggestions plus meanings along with my usual review requirements for bonus chapters. However, if we meet the usual bonus chapter requirements, I'll update a previous chapter, as long as the chapter you want updated is given in the review or by PM. This might not sound like much right now, but come around next summer, you'll be glad you did it. You can also specify if you want the chapter updated right away, or wait until the beginning of next summer (late May) with any revisions which may have occurred by then.**

* * *

 **Phillip Harbindinger: I've done that a few times myself. That's one of the benefits of iterative writing. I tend to catch those things through the multiple re-reads. More often my "mistakes" are forgetting details such as body language, scenery, and time stamps among other things. It's those things that prevent me from finalizing any particular chapter. And sleep is a very good thing! Don't wear yourself out too badly just to get a review out!**

* * *

 **So I was really happy with this chapter until I realized I was going back and forth between events happening on Tuesday and events happening on Wednesday. I think I fixed it, but if things feel off, that's why. Over a few more revisions, I'll eventually get it perfectly, but that will take a while, and I need to make sure I get my chapters out on schedule first. Aside from that, this chapter was initially supposed to be a filler before all the big events happened, but it turned out to be a really fun chapter to write! I really think you guys are going to enjoy this one. So if you're on the rush, hold off until you got some time. And if you got some time, grab your favorite snack and maybe a blanket, and enjoy!**

 **Today is 7/23/16 and this chapter is 5200+ words!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon, just dream it.**

* * *

Chapter 24: Holding Out

While the street still consisted of Eon Park Square's cushiony pavement apparently invented by an intelligent alakazam and a malamar according to Leon, the rest of the setting had shifted from bright flashing lights and excited chatter to a peaceful plain decorated with various tree species and fallen leaves. Between these spotted trees were large unique building structures with slanted roofs and an occasional light through a window or attached to the front of the building. A walkway from the street led to a small hotel-room door on the outside of each of these buildings. However, what had caught the attention of the awestruck umbreon was the amount of textures, plants, and decorated walls which sat in peace in the slight breeze under the moonlight. Each flower was arranged so precisely; some worshipped the trees, some leeched from the artificial light from the windows, and still others swayed along the walls in pots waiting to greet the next day's sun. All of these flowers were guarded by the hospitable lilac bushes, many embodying the likeness of different pokemon species, both basic and legendary alike. The buildings themselves were also interesting. Unlike the flat walls in the cities, these buildings were textured in a variety of patterns. Some used colored inclined stripes. Others used perfectly rectangular stones with white outlining grooves. The roofs had the most variety. While some were plainly tiled in a dark hue, others contained magnificent artwork depictions of anything imaginable. Besides basic and legendary pokemon depictions, the artwork included family portraits at picnics, friends at the park across the giant food store, and other scenes unfamiliar to the observing umbreon.

"This place is beautiful!" Kieren marveled. "There's so much color and texture and nature all mixed together so simply."

"Must be some pretty good night-vision you got there," Leon joked.

"You can't see all this?" Kieren asked, awestruck.

"Nope. It's all a bunch of black silhouettes to me," the minun confessed.

"So do you know where we are?" Kieren asked alarmed.

"Yea. I'm not totally blind right now," Leon assured. "Mylan's house is on the next street four houses down."

"These are houses?" Kieren queried.

"Yep! Pretty nice, huh?" Leon beamed as the two rounded the corner onto another street. "See that sign out there? Third house on the left?"

Kieren glanced over and gave a confirming nod.

"That sign says it's for sale. I think they're asking for twenty-seven mil. Certainly in budget if you win that fifty mil tourney you got yourself into," Leon patted the umbreon good-humoredly.

Leon led the way up to the adjacent house's doorway and touched a little button on the side. Kieren could hear a two-pitched bell chime faintly from the inside. The door opened to reveal a very frightened abra who quickly jumped back and fell into a fetal position on the floor. He was violently shaking and mumbling inaudible jumble until Kieren listened more closely.

"Please M-Mr. Umbreon S-Sir. I did n-nothing an-and h-have noth-thing. I wa-will get whatev-ev-whatever you need by uh-uh next week. P-Please! Just don't attack me. I'm weak and defenseless!" the abra pleaded.

Kieren took a step back in shock. How had he frightened the poor thing so badly? The psyduck at the bank wasn't like this. He was hoping this wasn't some sort of prank Leon was pulling. Poor abra! Things only got worse after Kieren had took a step back, as this prompted the abra to get up, scream, and frantically dash back deeper into his house.

Clang clang!

THUMP!

Kieren revealed his startled expression to the adjacent blue-eared tour guide.

"Come in and have a seat in the living room over to your left. I'll go get him," Leon instructed, face red of embarrassment. Kieren did as he was told. As he sat down, he noticed how he could see his reflection in the window. He tried to examine himself in different poses to see if one looked particularly intimidating, which may have accidentally frightened the abra. He could hear Leon talking in the other room. "Mylan. Calm down. Shhhh. It's me, Leon, the minun who lives two blocks down. Everything is fine. I just wanted you to meet this kind umbreon. I think you'll find him rather interesting."

"Um-umbreon, d-dark type, n-not safe," Mylan responded.

"Relax. He's not here to hurt you or attack you or anything like that. You startled him as much as he scared you. Just calm down and say 'hi'. He's new to the city."

Apparently that did the trick, because a still shaken abra entered Kieren's vision accompanied by the minun.

"Kieren, this is Mylan. Mylan, this is Kieren," Leon introduced. Kieren gently lifted a paw, and after a brief pause, the abra accepted it and they shook.

"Nice to meet you," Kieren offered. He watched carefully making sure not to upset the abra further. He smiled genuinely when Mylan's face lifted.

"Mylan, this umbreon here is from the Valley," Leon stated.

"Really?" Mylan perked. "It's an honor to meet you then," the abra bowed. Kieren rolled his eyes, which prompted a nervous look from Mylan to Leon.

"He's got some tricky history with the Eon tribe," Leon suggested. Mylan caught the gist and nodded.

"So I suppose he's maybe moving in next door?" Mylan guessed.

"Maybe if he wins the Cityside Invitational," Leon joked. "Perhaps you saw his posters out in the city this afternoon?"

"That's what that was about? I never bothered to read one. My apologies Kieren," the abra bowed again, this time receiving a more bemused reaction from the umbreon. "Why's he looking at me that way?" Mylan whispered into Leon's ear. Leon smiled with a wispy chuckle.

"Mylan," he began excitedly, "you are not going to believe this!"

Mylan looked at Kieren's tour guide keenly.

"Mylan, Kieren is illiterate," Leon stated as calmly as he could.

The shock reverberated across the poor abras face, this time to Kieren's shameless amusement.

"Really? Is this really true?" Mylan asked the minun, but was answered by Kieren's nearly audible smirk.

"THAT'S INCREDIBLE!"

Kieren craned his head at the outburst. The extreme changes in emotion from the Abra were quite fascinating.

"I suppose I should explain," Leon concluded. "Kieren, Mylan is an academic professional currently writing his dissertation for an illiteracy program, but he has had no way to test his theories."

Kieren's blank look said it all for the abra. Kieren hadn't followed a single bit of that explanation, so Mylan took control of the situation.

"Kieren, I would like to make an offer with you. I will teach you to read and write like us at no charge."

"Really?" Kieren was taken aback. He was about to refuse to avoid Mylan's inconvenience but the abra continued.

"All I ask for is that I can publish your progress and perhaps a little bit of your background. It may not seem like it right now, but this would be very beneficial for me, even if it were for only a week."

"He's not exaggerating," Leon added. "It's not every day you find an illiterate pokemon in the cities, and a dissertation is serious biz."

Kieren tried to comprehend what they were describing, but failed. However, if what they were saying was true, whether he understood it or not, than who was he to refuse?

"Well if what you are saying is true, then it's a win-win situation, right?" Kieren conjectured.

The abra confirmed excitedly.

All doubts left the umbreon's mind. He still had no idea what he was getting himself into, but these kinds of adventures were exactly what he needed in his present state. He reached out with his paw and accepted Mylan's now firm handshake.

"Deal!" he settled.

* * *

The sun was having fun making sparkles in the water still trying to wake everyone in the Eon tribe despite the day being almost over already. However, one group was up and about, and at realization of a major hole in their plan.

"Where the heck are we supposed to hide this?" Trent asked Drake for the eighty-sixth time within the last four hours. He remained staring at the giant deck recorder which heavily resembled a DJ system. Drake's head was buried in the sand. Andy and Connor sat pondering the question, hoping to outsmart Trent for once.

"I'm back!" yelled an excited Kat, her tail dragging an open sack full of orans. "Why's Drake's head in the sand?"

Drake groaned in response.

"Drake's plan forgot to consider hiding a giant broken DJ system until we are ready to enact Phase II," Trent answered before laughing at the lapras. Drake was now banging his head repeatedly into the sand.

"I'll just hide it in the cliff cave where I sleep," Kat huffed while shaking her head.

"Cave?" Connor asked.

"Yea. Back in the shadow side behind the blob," Kat revealed casually. "There's plenty of room and light back there, so it should be no problem." She craned her head and began to blush lightly when they gawked at her.

"W-Wait!" Andy stuttered. "You mean to tell me that the white stone under the cliff is actually the blob? Did you know about this Trent?"

"No. I thought they had ridded it completely for safety reasons," Trent answered back, incredulous.

Kat listened in as the two began discussing the politics of the event.

"…but my dad was assigned to have a crew clean it out the following day, so we had assumed someone else took care of it that night," Trent explained.

"Really, I thought your dad had them clean it out early just to be safe?"

"No, my dad never touched it. We assumed Celestia took care of it, because she had been really upset lately, but that was the same time Kat left our class, so maybe that's not what ha…"

"YOU SLEEP WITH THE BLOB MONSTER?!" Connor burst.

To Kat, it was official. The situation before her eyes just transformed from maladroit to hysteria! She started laughing so hard she was completely silent, which was good because that allowed her to hear the scene play out.

"Oh shit! We gotta do something about that thing," Andy informed Trent.

"Are you sure it exists?" Trent asked uncertainly.

"Yea! Remember back when we were playing Three Gambles and you had made the bet of snagging a sitrus berry from that one ariados?"

"Oh. Buck? Yea. He's cool. He was always trying to come up with ways to make those games interesting," Trent recalled fondly.

"Yeah. Well this time you got it and were trying to make your getaway by going Tarzan on the willow vine," Andy reminded. Drake sneered.

"Shut up!" Trent retorted over his shoulder.

"Do you remember when you crashed in how Liz was half covered in Blob and half soaked?" Andy asked.

"Didn't she try to sneak up on Caleb and push him in?" Trent remarked.

"Yea, but then the blob monster bit her leg and dragged her in before tossing her into the lake," Andy exclaimed. "That's why Caleb looked so dazed when you returned. He barely even knew what happened!"

Another wave of silent laughter flowed through Kat as Trent's face soured. Connor was having a shivering contest with the leaves in the wind – and winning. "D-d-d-do you th-think-k we-e-e c-ca-a-an g-get rid-d of it-t-t?"

"Don't worry guys, I already got a plan," Andy told them in hushed voice, prompting the entire group to get in close. "So we wait until evening when the sun is setting when it's tired. Since we have numbers it will be to our advantage. Kat, guard it from escaping up the hill! Drake, guard the shoreline. Trent and I will go on the offensive. Connor, if we run into trouble, it is your job to get backup. As soon as we kill it, Tren…"

"EEEEEEEEK!" Kat shrieked. "Don't kill her!"

"Her?" Andy repeated?

"Don't kill the blob monster!" Kat pleaded in a voice unusually feminine for her.

"We're trying to protect you!" Trent cautioned, his tone revealing both seriousness and concern. Andy and Connor joined him in the pleading stare-down at her.

"Ok. Ok. Stop! Stop it. No games anymore," Kat commanded. "You guys don't seriously believe the blob monster is real, do you?"

"Yeah!" Connor, Andy, and Trent all said in unison. Drake looked completely confuzzled.

Kat was astounded – dumbfounded, bewildered, speechless.

Trent just stood there, probably worried for her safety.

Andy glanced back and forth between her and the cliff, probably still stuck on the fact that she described the "blob monster" as a "her".

Drake – still confuzzled.

Connor was scared out of his wits.

"That was ME!" Kat boomed before collapsing into a giggling fit.

* * *

Wednesday morning came right on time for an acclimating umbreon on the 16th floor of the LightWay Hotel off of 14th street and Carmen Drive. He yawned as he crawled his way up on the pillows and out from the covers. The air vent was softly blowing the curtains, morphing the rising sun's shadows on the back walls. Kieren grabbed a hold of a chain next to the window, and with a good yank, the maroon curtain decorated with brown curly branches collapsed to the side. The sun obliterated the morphing shadows into nothing but the color of the walls, which were maroon with a light tan ceiling.

Kieren wandered towards the doorway to his well-furnished hotel room, but took a quick right turn into the small bathroom. He pulled a lever on the wall which revealed a small hole in the floor for him to relieve himself. After that imposition, he flipped the switch back and the hole closed. Next, he stepped into the bathtub, flipped the second lever to get the water to spray, and rinsed out his fur. Once he was satisfied and more awake, he flipped off the water and grabbed two furry white blankets to wrap himself in. He left the bathroom looking more like an unshaved furfrou than an umbreon. The bed sank as Kieren jumped on, grabbed the black box of buttons, hit the top left one, and waited for the psychic human to use future sight on the weather. His plan for today was nearly identical to yesterday's. After he caught the 7 AM weather, he would go downstairs, grab some breakfast, and head out to the golf course to get another practice round in before the tournament tomorrow. It took him a little bit to adjust to his new body during yesterday's round, but soon he found a rhythm and reaped the benefits of his new form's added strength and control. After his practice round, he'd head back for lunch before setting out to Mylan's, possibly helping out the construction workers along the way again.

* * *

"1…2…3…Lift!" Trent yelled. The two flareon, two eevee, and lapras all groaned as they managed to lift and move the heavy equipment a few feet before they were interrupted by a familiar voice.

"Andy? Connor? What the heck are you guys doing?" Paige asked in bewildered annoyance.

Kat gave a warning glance before dropping her corner of the heavy weight.

"We're helping move this to Kat's hideout so she'll show us her secret cave," Connor answered between gasps for air.

"And why does Kat want a broken DJ system in her secret cave?" Paige interrogated.

"I'm right here!" Kat alerted Paige.

"Why wouldn't you want an awesome sound system in your secret cave?" Andy answered for her.

"Because it's broken?" Paige sneered.

"But Kat is studying from Aubrey to become learned, remember?" Andy reminded.

"And what better way to learn than hands-on technology repair?" Drake added, balancing both his energy and his wisdom into his voice.

"Can't argue with the wise," Trent joked. Paige sighed in defeat.

"So are you going to help?" Connor asked, still huffing from the labor his body wasn't ready for.

"Uhhh. About that," Paige began slowly. "Why aren't you just floating the thing over?"

"Because it would require a lot of ice to keep this thing afloat, and the water is too shallow," Drake answered.

"So do you mind helping?" Andy asked.

Paige stood there for a second to think, making Trent believe she was teasing them.

"What the hell. I'm bored," Paige agreed, much to everyone's surprise.

"Really?" Connor asked amazed.

"What happened that night?" Andy asked quizzically. Trent smiled, knowing full well what Andy was on to.

"Hunter lost control like the dumbass he is," Paige cursed. "Where do you want me?"

"Help Connor," Andy answered just before Trent could.

Paige nodded and moved next to Connor in the back. Drake slid over so as to create a more even weight distribution. Trent from the front called out the countdown again.

"1…2…3…Lift!" The two flareon, three eevee, and the lapras lifted the sound equipment and began moving several paces in a slow rhythm. "Keep it up!" Trent encouraged.

"Trent I'm slipping!" Andy panicked.

"Everyone down!" Drake commanded. They all slowly sat the heavy equipment on its wheels again before simultaneously crashing into the sand, exhausted.

* * *

"Trent! We're back! Are you ready to build this?" asked the eevee next to her underneath the giant sheet of metal, which rested on their heads and held in place by their tails.

Melody was the first to catch sight of two flareon, three eevee, and a lapras all sprawled out in the sand breathing heavily, with a giant sound system in the middle, wheels stuck in the sand.

"Uh…What the heck are you guys doing?" she asked the group.

"Moving these electronics to Kat's hideout," Trent heaved.

"Why?" Melody asked inquisitively, her voice rising in pitch as she stretched out the word.

"OAI capture, Phase II," Drake answered quickly in a single breath.

Melody paused a second to process what everything meant. "Drake must've found out about OAI," she thought. "That's logical he would have if he's out from his studies. 'Capture' means capturing intelligence, which involves sound equipment because, wait! He's planning to record the conversation! Since the Eon tribe can't read the 'Audio Capture Studio X20' label, I wonder if that's the 'broken' DJ system? But why is Drake helping and not giving answers or researching them?" She must have mumbled the last question loud enough for Caleb to hear, because he reiterated her question out loud.

"Drake! Why are you involved with this? Don't you already know what's going on?"

"Have Trent explain later. But no, I'm almost as clueless as you are," Drake quickly dismissed.

"Can someone please tell me what this OAI stuff is about? I thought this all had to do with Kat getting a sound system!" Paige protested, reminding everyone of her and the others' inability to let the encrypted information exchange pass them.

Trent sighed. "Alright. I'll clear this up." Everyone turned to him in surprise. Melody was about to drop the sheet and pounce him, but Caleb stopped her. "We have a lead on the curse, and initially we thought this lead was enough for Drake to have the answer, but it turns out things aren't so simple. This DJ equipment has parts needed for our next experiment, which will hopefully provide us the answers we're looking for. Since Drake, Kat, Melody, Caleb, and I have been around Kieren enough, we aren't in too big of a risk. However, you three will want to keep your mouth shut about everything that is happening, because if you let word escape, the curse will get you too. That's all I can safely reveal to you."

"And at the end of the day, Kat is still getting an awesome sound system for her secret cave," Drake added, lightening the mood. Everyone paused to refocus on the task at hand.

"And why can't you float that thing?" Caleb asked.

"That's what I asked!" Paige exclaimed.

"Because it would require a lot of ice to keep this thing afloat, and the water is too shallow," Drake repeated. "Now Melody, can we borrow that sheet of metal you have there? If we can tie down the equipment to it, the flat surface will be easier to drag across the sand."

"Yessss!" Connor rejoiced tiredly.

* * *

"Nope. Like I said before, that girl is the exception," said the machoke before downing the last of his chocolate moo moo milk.

"So what type does it use?" the umbreon asked, taking a sip of his own. The chocolate was good, but he definitely preferred strawberry the best. The regular white from yesterday was a close second.

"Psychic."

"Kat." Why he had blurted out her name, Kieren wasn't quite sure. He had hardly even noticed the machoke rubbing the back of his neck in an attempt to hide his discomfort with the gym's type.

"Kat?" he asked nonchalantly.

"Nevermind, just an old friend," Kieren shrugged off. "So there was something about getting eight badges and qualifying for something?" Kieren asked, changing the topic.

The machoke relaxed and smiled back. "Yep. Win eight badges, and you qualify for the region's Pokemon League Tournament. It's held every year in Kinedracea City."

"What's the prize?"

"A big trophy and a lot of cash. A lot of cash," the machoke repeated. "But more importantly, the winner gets to challenge the Elite Four and possibly the Champion."

"Elite Four," Kieren thought to himself. "Wait, what was his name? Think, current, criminal organization, got it!"

"Umbreon, you ok?" the machoke asked, waving a hand in front of Kieren's face.

"Umm, yea. The name's Kieren," Kieren answered, waking from his thoughts.

"Michael," said the machoke. "Sorry, I didn't even think to ask."

"Me neither," the umbreon admitted coolly. "Hey, about the Elite Four, do you know someone named Flint?"

The machoke raised his brows, "Yea. He's one of them. Not to be confused with that old Flint guy in Sinnoh 200 years back. The Flint here is actually Sydney's great-great grandson from Hoenn. A few years ago he was almost knocked out of the position, but then he came back with a surprise flareon that started frying mincemeat out of his opponents."

"A flareon?" Kieren asked.

"Yep," said the machoke, leaning back with his arms behind his head.

"He's my grandfather," Kieren confessed.

The machoke twitched, grabbed the back of the bench, and flipped over it onto his feet, leaving a vibrating bench plus umbreon in front of him.

"Holy shit! He's your grandfather?" Michael bellowed.

"Holily sh-shit! What did-d you j-just d-do?" Kieren thought.

"Michael! New shipment came in. Can you help us carry to the crane site?" called a machamp holding a beam in each of his four arms.

* * *

The red glow subsided next to the bright gray metal slowly losing its shimmer from the setting sun. As they had promised Caleb, Melody and Trent were building a warning sign for the magic moss garden. It wasn't difficult with both of them being fire types. Trent held up another sheet with his tail while Melody flamethrowered a vertical line down the sheet. The two of them quickly bit each side of the metal and ripped the sheet apart down the heat line, creating a slightly smaller rectangle and a narrow vertical strip. Trent softly reheated the vertical strip, while Melody shot a small flamethrower at the rectangle. With hasty precision, Trent placed his heated piece on top of Melody's and began jumping on the two slaps of hot metal unharmed. Afterwards, the two stepped back and allowed the metal pole to fuse with the rectangular slab.

"So what'dja think of Kat's little home?" Trent asked calmly as the two sat down and began watching the sunset.

"Oh my gosh with the waterfall…" Melody answered dreamily. "It was so perfect for her. I can't believe no one knew!"

"I really liked the windows, although I probably was the one who made them from crashing into that wall so many times," he told her while rubbing behind his ear with his front right paw, causing her to giggle. "So did you get any word on Kieren?" Trent asked, changing the subject.

"I did hear a few rumors that a black pokemon - potentially from the valley - has been making rounds through Eon Park Square, but I haven't had time to investigate," Melody admitted. "There's a big golfing tournament being held in the city starting tomorrow, the Eon Invitational. That means a lot of marketing is going on, and my mom thinks we can expand our client base if we play our cards right, so I've been tied up with that." Melody looked down with a wanting gaze. Hopefully once the tournament started, Kieren would be easier to spot. She glanced up to see Trent's baffled expression. He probably understood zero of what she said.

"I need to take you out to the city sometime," Melody declared.

"Wait! What?" Trent asked nervously. Melody could be devious sometimes, but this was pushing it.

"I mean you do plan on taking over your father's role as events officer, right?" Melody queried.

"What does Officer of Events have to do with the city?" Trent demanded.

Melody only smiled at his fear-filled frustration. "Well wouldn't it be nice if, say, you were planning for an event, you could actually go to the city and pick out everything you needed yourself?"

"And how the heck am I supposed to communicate with the humans?" Trent retaliated.

"That's what Eon Park Square is for!" Melody answered. "Saturday morning. It's a date."

"Uh…ok?" Trent stuttered, unable to properly react to the situation.

Melody didn't let him think long enough to back out. "So tell me what you found out from Drake. I still need to be filled in on why Drake is involved in OAI. I'm guessing he was the one who came up with grabbing the broken DJ system since he can read?"

"Does it actually say it's not a DJ system on the equipment?" Trent asked dryly.

"Audio Capture Studio X-twenty," Melody recited. Trent facepalmed.

"Yep, that was Drake," he murmured through his tail.

"And he is orchestrating this why?" Melody pressed.

Trent sighed, removing his tail from his face, glancing away to hide his ill-composure, then finally turned to face Melody again. "He ran into a little domestic impediment, and his research isn't adding up to what is happening."

"Did he say what he found in his research?" Melody inquired.

"No. He didn't want to give out false information and start rumors," Trent answered apologetically. "All he gave me was the species name: umbreon."

"Umbreon?" Melody repeated. "Shit! I recognize that from something. Ugh! I can't remember," she stalled, searching the ground for the answer in her head before giving up. "Thanks Trent. That's all I really needed."

* * *

It was evening, and Kieren was starting to get tired. He had just translated his tallied score card from his practice round into numeric, but that was easy because Mylan was a great teacher. It was the long series of life questions that had tired him out. Mylan wasn't interested about his father or the Evelescence Ceremony procedures. Instead, he kept asking about Kieren's personality, habits, interests, and battling skills. All of these were things Kieren had not thought much about in the last ten days, so he was very thankful for Mylan's patience.

"The tournament starts tomorrow," Mylan reminded him.

Kieren nodded sluggishly.

"There's going to be a lot of people there. Try not to get overwhelmed," Mylan encouraged.

"Thanks," Kieren answered impassively. "I suppose I should be going then." He stood up, and began turning towards the exit when Mylan stopped him.

"Kieren, wait!"

"Did I forget something?" Kieren asked, turning back.

"No, I still had one more question."

"Fire away."

"What's your necklace?"

Kieren looked down realizing he had completely forgot he was still wearing it.

"It's a moon shard," Kieren answered. "It's how I evolved."

"And you still have it?"

"I guess so."

"How does it work then? Do you battle with it?"

"Yea, at least that's how I did it," Kieren put in.

"I see. Your tribe has a special ceremony for evolution, doesn't it? How does it handle battle-based evolutions?"

"It doesn't."

"What?"

"It was awkward until my friend tried to intervene," Kieren explained. "I then tricked him into battling."

"But if you don't have battle-based evolutions, that only leaves vaporeon, jolteon, and flareon!" the abra remarked.

"The only evolutions I knew."

"Then how did you…?"

"I didn't. I simply followed procedures," Kieren interrupted, "which was to go find Zach Clesse and have him decide my evolution since I was to become the next Lunar Alpha. He gave me the moon shard, told me it would give me the perfect evolution once I battled while wearing it, and told my friend my evolution would be a surprise."

Mylan sat there, digesting all the information Kieren spat at him. After a short moment of silence, he began punching the information into his com-thing-a-ter. Mylan did that a lot, especially when he left Kieren to study the numerals next to the tallies. He had explained it was his personal note-keeping tool, and that only the pertinent results would actually be published. Kieren sat patiently observing, wondering what kind of notes the abra would be taking.

"Mind if I ask a potentially dangerous question?" the abra requested.

Kieren honestly did not mind at this point. The abra was both intelligent and helpful. In two days, Kieren could already read numbers and tell time from a digital clock, the latter being an incredibly useful skill no matter what Kieren did down the road. It was only fair that he told the abra what he knew. Besides, he only had to stick around for a few more days.

"Why not?" Kieren challenged.

"How did your tribe react when you evolved?"

"Do you really want to know?" Kieren teased.

Mylan gulped, but nodded anyways. Kieren prepared himself, knowing he would catch the abra by surprise with his next disclosure.

"Mylan, I'm an exile," he admitted. "That's the reason I'm here, and that's the reason I'm in the tournament. As soon as the tournament's over I am going to say goodbye to my friends, find a trainer, and start a new life."

Kieren expected Mylan to gasp, flinch, or something, but much to his surprise, the abra remained calm.

"I understand," he said. "Well then I suppose this will be our last meeting. I appreciate you answering all of my questions."

Unlike Mylan, Kieren wasn't prepared for the response. It wasn't that soon, was it?

"Mylan, I'm not going to find a trainer right away," Kieren coaxed, patting the abra softly on the shoulder. "I would still appreciate it if we can continue this until I do find one. It is incredibly practical information, and you're a good teacher."

Mylan's face lit up, his eyes refilled with hope.

"You bet! Kieren!" Mylan answered with a thumbs-up. "Should I expect to see you tomorrow?"

"I don't see why not."

"Great! Have a good night and good luck in the tournament!" Mylan wished him.

"Thanks."

The exhausted umbreon made his way out the door, through the city, and back to his hotel room where he plopped on the bed, struck a nerve on the pillow, and was out.

* * *

 **Author's Notes: Well, what did you think? Did I do well? Was it good enough to get some name suggestions? Are we going to get a bonus chapter? Is there a chapter you want to see re-written? This summer is flying by. I'm just glad I'm away from my cousin who's putting fairy gyms all over the place (shiver). Though I do find it funny how many people don't realize that fairy wasn't one of the original types. Life is weird, so I'll see you all in two weeks if not sooner. ~Dreaming I'm Latios**


	25. 25) Tee Off

**Author's Note:**

 **First off, I owe you a couple of apologies. I'm really sorry this has been a crappy summer for updates compared to last summer. My internship ate up a lot more time than my previous job, and it seemed like half my weekends were all booked. Next weekend is another one of those cases, but my internship is over now, meaning I'm going to try to get next week's update on Friday. I'm also not nearly as far ahead on writing as I was last summer, and the story is at the point where the chapters are consistently longer. Hopefully that will change next summer, but I'll discuss that more in a later chapter.**

 **Second apology: I know some of you have been asking me via PM about the tournaments I've been in and whether you could play with me and help me warm up. Unfortunately, our internet has been so unreliable that it has been impossible for me to follow up, plus other issues came up. Right now, I am at home in the cities, with only my 3DS, so if you still want to play with me online, it'll have to be something like MK7 or ORAS. At least internet is reliable in the cities.**

 **Now about the tournaments, all I can say is that if you or a friend works at a game shop like a GameStop, host game tournaments! Also, make tournaments accessible to kids! I won't share the why nor how nor the mind-blowing stories unless someone asks, but seriously, open box should equal open tournament!**

* * *

 **Guest: Thanks for the suggestion!**

 **AveragePichu: I love the new name! I have no new tricks for this chapter though. Chapter 26 on the other hand…**

* * *

 **There's one clue in this chapter that's going to lead to some interesting events. See if you can guess what it is, or maybe even who it is! Bonus chapter details are listed at the end of the chapter.**

 **Today is 8/6/16 and this chapter is 4600+ words.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon, just dream it.**

* * *

Chapter 25: Tee Off

"But as you can see, there may be some disruptions coming from this high pressure zone that is going to sweep on through the area, and with it, we might see some thunderstorms late afternoon Saturday into the evening. But for today, it is going to be a beautiful day in the Eon metro area. Your forecast for today is a high of seventy-six, partly cloudy skies which should clear up later this afternoon, and around five mile-per-hour winds to the southeast. Right now it is sixty-three in Sprint County, sixty-eight in Tyron, sixty-one on the lakefront, and sixty-four here in Eon City. It's going to be a beautiful day for golfing. I'm Todd Anderwisch, and you're watching Sky 9 news."

"And not just a beautiful day for golfing, but for spectators as well, which is our top news story this morning. Let me turn it over to Devin out in the field."

"Thanks Sharon. I'm here at the Eon Cityside Country Club, and as you can see, a large crowd has already gathered for the Eon Invitational Tournament. But that isn't the only thing special happening here at Eon Cityside Country Club. A pokemon will be competing in this year's tournament. According to an Eon Valley spokesperson, the pokemon goes by the na…pfft tch…click."

"Not bad weather for a tournament," Kieren told himself aloud as he dropped the black box on the bed and stuffed his room card into his club bag. "I should go thank Mason for showing me how to use the T-D-thing. Oh right! He's supposed to take me the back way to the course today!"

Kieren gave a hasty farewell to his hotel room and hopped into the elevator door just in time to catch the next trip down. After the elevator door shut, he quickly realized he wasn't the only one in the ride.

"So you're that pokemon prodigy the whole town's worked up about," said the man inside. He possessed a slim figure with loose khaki shorts, a horizontally pink and green striped polo with a fiery red logo, and a cream colored hat. Next to the man was a bag much like Kieren's, although this one stood much more upright. Kieren noticed that the clubs in the man's bag were attached at a sharp angle between the pole and the contact surface. It was almost as if they swung the club vertically over their heads.

"Wait, that matches with those pictures," Kieren noted to himself silently.

"Well as long as you're better than that talking ninetails," the man began.

Kieren snorted a laugh and lost his gaze, pumping his lungs with silent chuckles.

"Oh, so you know him then?" the man asked smiling.

Kieren nodded.

"Well then, best of luck to you. Can't wait to see how you hold up," the man bade him as the elevator beeped open.

The cafeteria was all but vacant, sporting only a few tournament golfers and their friends. It didn't take long for Kieren to spot Mason over at a table on the right. As he went to grab a plate, he noticed a couple of the golfers point at him while chatting quietly. He didn't mind. They were probably sizing him up. It was a tournament after all, a competition not all much different from the Migration Games back at ho…his former tribe.

"Hopefully I don't disappoint," Kieren told himself while shaking his head to refresh his thoughts. He grabbed his favorite selection of… well he couldn't read the name of it yet, but it was the eighth box of breakfast kibble. He coupled it with several slices of sephiar leaves and razz juice.

"How's it going, Kieren?" Mason greeted the approaching umbreon.

"So far so good," Kieren answered while carefully navigating his tray off his head and on to the table. "And you?"

"Busy. I've been up since four A-M today. This is my second breakfast," Mason answered, nosing his tray of food. He had some kind of wheat wrapped around spicy protein kibble topped with pepper jack cheese, some foreign berry slices, and loads of diced peppers.

"Really? Wow! What kind of stuff have you been tied up with?" Kieren asked, somewhat amazed.

"Oh, everything," Mason answered with a sigh. "Advertising, television broadcast, crowd control, maintenance, but mostly advertising. Sponsors bring in a lot of money, which is why it's important they know their money is going in the right places."

"Why do you need all that money?" Kieren asked.

"Well, Mr. Clesse, the owner of both the golf course you'll be playing at today, and the Valley reserve, is a very smart man. While he could have gotten by financially without the tournament, the money an event this size brings in allows him to manage both pieces of property and still enjoy life. Plus it brings a lot of business to the city, so as long as everything runs smoothly, most people are willing to help Mr. Clesse support both the reserve and the golf course. We've been doing this for over twenty years now, so we've got the procedures pretty well down, but there's always a few misnomers to resolve right as the tournament starts."

Kieren nodded as he tried to take it all in. He could tell by Mason's relaxed expression that everything was setting up for another successful year. Again, it was just like the Migration Games, except people and city things.

"So how about you? You aren't nervous or anything?" Mason asked.

"Nah," Kieren answered between bites of food. "You can't be thankful and nervous at the same time, and you can't _not_ be thankful when the food is this good!"

"Glad to hear it," Mason chuckled. "Mr. Clesse wants to thank you for being a good golfer. He's watched some of your practice rounds and even put together a showcase video."

"Well I'm not sure what a 'showcase video' is, but I did want to thank you for showing me how to use that T-D-R thing in the hotel room," Kieren thanked.

Mason responded with a strange look.

"The black box that future sights the weather?" Kieren tried.

"The TV?" Mason tried.

"Yeah! That's it!" Kieren exclaimed. Where did he get the R from?

"Well speaking of which, you're going to have a camera crew following you today. Just totally ignore them. The equipment might look strange, but all they are doing is letting people who have TVs watch you play."

"As long as they tell me when it's ok to swing and where I'm supposed to walk, I'm good," Kieren answered.

The two of them spent the rest of their meal discussing procedures for golfing at a big event. Mason promised he would introduce Kieren to the time keeper, and warned the umbreon not to get too close to the crowds. He also explained how it was typical for competitors to be placed in pairs, although he wasn't sure if Kieren would be put in one as well.

"So I should only have to mark my ball if I'm in the way or if someone asks me to?" Kieren asked as he set his empty plates on the rack at the end of the cafeteria.

"Yep, and remember you mark behind the ball in reference to the hole," Mason reminded. "Ready to get going?"

Kieren nodded. He quickly dashed back to where they had sat, grabbed his bag, and walked with Mason through the hallway and out the hotel's back turntable door.

The streets were eerie empty in the broad daylight of the 9AM late summer sun. The weather people were dead right about it being a beautiful day. It was calm, not too humid, and just the right amount of sunlight to color the sky without baking the earth. They weaved through back alleyways following a set of arrows of which Mason assured were for the tournament golfers. Eventually they reached the edge of the city where flag streamers welcomed them and directed their way to the tournament grounds. At first the noise was faint, and all Kieren could see was green grass and red and blue decorative triangles hanging on ropes attached to metal stakes on either side of him. However, a new noise of individual chatter sprung upon the two of them as they neared a flat area of the incline.

"Hey! Here comes the umbreon!" a human male exclaimed. Kieren turned to see two grown men smiling casually at them. One had blondish brown hair escaping from his dark navy hat with a logo on the side that showed a pokeball and two construction cranes embedded in the text. He wore a polo decorated with images of purple and orange October leaves with a pocket slightly offset to one side with a logo matching his hat. His shorts were a grassy green. Next to the blond man was another slim figure wearing mostly attire that sported the golf course's logos.

"The ninetails next to him is Mason," said the golf course man.

"Is he one of those talking ninetails I've heard rumors about?" asked what Kieren believed was a competitor based the golf bag next to him matching his leafy patterned shirt and sporting the same logo.

The event employee nodded, prompting the golfer to smile as he turned to face Mason.

"Nice to meet you, Mason," the golfer greeted bending down with a firm hand/paw shake.

"A pleasure sir," Mason responded, causing the man to flinch slightly, only to relax again. Mason turned to the employee. "Jackson this is Kieren. It's his first time playing in a professional scene, so can you make sure he doesn't accidentally break any walking regulations or play his ball too early?"

"No problem," Jackson answered. "I'm sure Aurelein here should be able to help with that as well. He volunteered to be paired with the umbreon here for the first day."

"I play with a Lucario periodically back in Kalos," Aurelein explained. "I wanted to see how a quadruped plays, and hopefully I might be a little less awkward for him to hang out with too." The man winked at Kieren. Kieren responded by cocking his head to the side with blatantly fake skepticism, prompting a laugh from the golfer.

"Well as much as I would like to stick around and chat with you guys," Mason began, "I have things I need to take care of. Good luck to both of you!"

"Thanks," Kieren and Aurelein responded in unison, albeit in different forms of speech. The ninetails knowingly chuckled as he turned and departed back down the hill, swinging his nine tails into a wavy rhythm matching his step.

"That ninetails is quite the character, isn't he?" piped another golfer approaching the three of them. Compared to the other two men, he was a bit heavier and much shorter. Specs of curly blonde hair leaked from under his black hat. His bright red button-up was tucked loosely into his khaki pants. "I had to come meet the star players before the show starts," the man continued as he stopped up next to the two men and offered his hand to Aurelein. "Paul Goosekin"

"Nice to meet you, Paul. Aurelein Cindevelli," Aurelein introduced shaking hands with the overweight man. "You know anything about this fellow here?" Aurelein asked nodding over to Kieren.

"All I know is that his name's Kieren Bluestripe, and it is suspected he is from the valley and may be one of Flint's flareon's descendants," Paul answered. Kieren flinched at the mentioning of the location, but relaxed slightly at the reference to his grandfather.

"Flint's flareon?" Aurelein asked.

Kieren nodded. If there was anything he wanted to be associated with, his grandfather was one he could be proud of.

"So what is he to you? Father? Grandfather?"

Kieren nodded at the latter guess. Aurelein nodded back in understanding before turning to face Paul again.

"You ever golf with a pokemon before? Paul asked.

"A Lucario," Aurelein answered. "And you?"

"Mason the ninetails that was over here just a minute ago," Paul confessed. "I highly recommend not trying that."

Kieren burst out laughing, catching the attention of the two golfers.

"See, even the umbreon knows why," Paul joked.

"Is he that bad?" Aurelein asked.

Kieren and Paul gave a simultaneous nod.

"Well then…" Aurelein paused. "I suppose you're from this area then?"

"Yep. And you're from Laverre?"

"How'd you guess?"

"I didn't. It's written all over you."

The two of them exchanged hardy laughs when Jackson returned. Kieren realized he never noticed the guy leave in the first place.

"Kieren? Aurelein? We should probably get going. Show time is in 15."

"Good luck to both of you," Paul told them as Kieren and Aurelein grabbed their bags and set off up the hill.

"Thanks, you too," Aurelein answered over his shoulder.

The three of them passed several other groups hanging out as they ascended the hill. A couple of these groups were golfers. Most were employees or sponsors.

"Free drinks are up on the next table to the right," Jackson pointed out. "Sun gets hot with this many people around, so make sure you pack extras."

"Good idea," Aurelein praised. He beckoned the umbreon to follow him as they approached the tables of coolers filled with ice and drinks.

"Aurelein!" screeched a young lady that ran up from behind one of the tables and embraced the man.

"Cindy! How are you doing?" Aurelein answered grabbing her shoulders and bringing her face into focus.

"It's going great! I got all your favorites in the red cooler packed with ice. Do you want oran, strawberry, or peach?"

"One of each," Aurelein answered calmly.

"You betcha," Cindy answered.

She quickly dashed over to the tables, swiping her hand against her side to avoid catching her pink skirt while her brown ponytail trailed her movements. When she looked back at the two of them, her face soured with panic. She returned anyways and handed Aurelein three bottles of different colored liquids.

"Sorry! I didn't even see the umbreon was with you!" she frantically apologized. "Do you know what he wants?"

"Nope," Aurelein answered.

"Ok then," Cindy muttered. She turned back towards the tables. "Mike! What do we give the umbreon?"

"I don't know! Probably just water!" Mike shouted back.

"Throw in a couple of lemonades," Aurelein suggested. He'll probably like it. They both looked down at the umbreon. Kieren rolled his front shoulders – the quadruped equivalent of a shrug.

Cindy dashed back and pulled out two water bottles from the cooler.

"Aurelein! Catch!" she shouted while tossing one of the water bottles. Aurelein was caught off guard by her throw and couldn't pull his hands out of his pockets fast enough. The bottle bounced off the palm of his hand and fell out of his grasp before he could wrap his fingers around the wet plastic tightly enough. He looked down to see the bottle gripped tightly in the umbreon's mouth.

"Wow, did he just catch that?" Aurelein could hear Cindy ask Mike.

"Snagged 'er last second," Mike answered while Kieren placed the bottle in a pouch of his golf bag. Aurelein watched in amusement as Cindy tossed the next 3 bottles, two lemonade, all of which Kieren caught with impeccable precision and ease.

"I wonder who trained him," Aurelein told Cindy as she approached him, his gaze never leaving the black quadruped.

"Have you met his trainer?" Cindy asked.

"I think he's wild," Aurelein told her.

"Wild?" Cindy asked incredulous.

"There's a reserved valley just south of the city where a tribe of strong eevee live. Rumor has it he's from there," Aurelein explained.

"Rumor also has it he has a tricky past, so do you mind not talking about it?" Jackson interrupted. "See? He's already moving on." He pointed at the umbreon who was already dragging his bag up the hill.

"How'd you find out about this?" Aurelein asked.

"Dan Clesse himself informed me. He said he found a note left on his counter this morning all typed out detailing a recent tragic event. The fact that he's participating in a big public event is a bold, yet strategic move on his part to buy time. If something concerning comes up, notify Zach Clesse, and be sure not to say anything to Mason."

Aurelein nodded, recalling Kieren's previous reaction when he himself found out about Kieren's origins.

"Let's get going. We still have a little ways to walk yet," Jackson beckoned.

Aurelein agreed, and the two made a brief effort to catch up to the lone umbreon a few paces ahead.

"Ready to put on a show that would make your grandpa proud?" Aurelein asked Kieren as he caught up.

Kieren perked up, looked up at him, and smiled with a coo. He waited for Aurelein to say something else but soon realized Aurelein had nothing else to say. Instead, the human was taking in all the sights as the background noise of people slowly grew louder and louder with each step. Kieren mimicked Aurelein's actions, noting all the decorations and advertisements scattered everywhere. Of course Kieren couldn't read any of what the advertisements said, but the pictures were pretty. Cans of various beverages, some with yellow-tainted portraits while others silver with a giant blue flame, were marketed everywhere. Fascinatingly, exact real-world replicas of those cans could be found in the grass underneath those signs, void of liquid content. Kieren recognized many of the downtown logos, including the bank, the movie theatre, and even the stone shop. He even recognized that banking psyduck painted standing back to back with a man with a connect-the-dots game in the background along with some unreadable text. However, the kicker was the overly chiseled machop holding onto some box package and giving a thumbs-up. Metal bars and circles were present in the background of the image. To humans, the image of an extra-chiseled machop was probably a symbol for fitness. To pokemon, that machop was stoned!

Apparently Kieren was chuckling out lout, because Aurelein looked his way, before looking in the direction of the sign. He shrugged and returned to his nature observation. Kieren had to admit Mother Nature was beautiful here, but he'd already discovered that beauty three days ago. He was on the hunt for more stoned machop and other oddball advertisements.

The young umbreon was still by Aurelein's side when a giant rock in the sky floated over their heads. Kieren blinked a few more times, not sure if he saw that correctly. He soon located a logo on the rock, which meant it was some kind of human invention likely playing some role in the tournament. They reached the next flat break in the long climb, and instantly the noise of people flooded Kieren's ears. They were just up ahead. The triangles on ropes tripled in height and sported more fanciful patterns and emblems. Inside the decorative walls stood statues double Aurelein's height representing various humans swinging golf clubs.

"These must be past winners of this tournament," Aurelein explained. "The year is listed below each statue."

"You know they don't make a statue of you unless you're a legend," Kieren could hear his grandfather say, recalling back to the time he was recovering in the Pokemon Center. The realization hit Kieren like water cold as ice from an old lapras friend. This tournament wasn't just a fun gathering for anyone to compete in. This was a battleground of the best. A legend was going to be born here. Kieren shrunk to himself a little by the thoughts. He reminded himself he was only invited after that one human saw his scorecard. He was invited to this tournament for a reason, and even though he had few reasons to win, he could at least put on a show!

The young umbreon engaged game-face mode as the sounds of the crowd grew louder and louder. The sounds sank into his subconsciousness when the wind picked up, combing every strand of fur along his back, washing him in coolness just as his blood switched routes. Kieren glanced up to see Aurelein wearing the same serious expression staring straight up the last hill. Kieren straightened up and stiffened his stride. He knew where he was now. The tee box was just over the hill, marking the start of a competition bigger than anything Kieren had ever witnessed. He was going to compete, and he was going to prove his independence from the Eon tribe!

"Good luck to you!" Aurelein spoke in a serious, almost rivalry-induced tone of voice. Kieren nodded back. The challenge was on.

The noise of the crowd managed to penetrate Kieren's consciousness once again as Aurelein held up his left hand palm out. Kieren still could not see who he was gesturing to, but could hear that the crowd was really close now. He gazed at the hill's horizon revealing more and more of the skyline with each ascending step. A voice boomed through a set of loudspeakers announcing Aurelein's entry. Kieren did not bother listening to the crackled voice buried by the noise of the crowd. The horizon revealed green of the first hole's treetops. The noise from Aurelein's entry slowly faded as Aurelein disappeared ahead on the other side of the hill. The instructions Jackson was giving Kieren were all processed subconsciously, because all Kieren could focus on was the wind, the statues, and the faint crowd in the background. Kieren was one steep step away from the top. He allowed his hind legs to fold while his front legs shifted off his weight. Like a snap of a vine, he pushed his body up into the air smoothly onto the peak of the hill.

The blast of voices pounded his ears with such velocity his vision blurred as the sound overwhelmed all other senses. The powerful volume of the people was ceaseless; destroying any conceptualization of crowd noise Kieren had built up in his seventeen years of life. Not even the recent Evelescence ceremonies compared.

Kieren opened his eyes to the blinding sunlight revealing bright green outlined by a jumbled assortment of multidimensional rainbows. His vision gained focus, and soon the bright green transformed into the familiar sight of the hole one fairway. But on either side was a completely new sight to the umbreon. Each spec of color was a full human being, staring back at the umbreon and screaming words that blended into the pounding noise of the crowd. Kieren slowly began his wide-eyed descent down the hill entering the river of green between the banks of humans.

"Making his first appearance in the world of professional golf, he has already set a record for being the first pokemon to enter the Eon Invitational Tournament, and the first quadruped to enter a CSG Major. Ladies and gentlemen, Kieren Bluestripe!"

"We love Kieren!" shouted the first recognizable chorus of syllables from Kieren's sharp left. The chorus belonged to a nearby group of teenage girls holding a sign displaying unrecognizable text and a pink heart in the middle. Kieren gazed around, observing all the different sights littered throughout the crowd. Giant black mechanisms hoisted on the shoulders of several men could be seen at every corner of the fairway, each with tails of cabling disappearing into the crowds. Signs featuring both poor and awe-inspiring renditions of the golfing umbreon kept pulling Kieren's gaze in every direction. Even the trees were not spared of the people and signs, as faces and text poked out between the branches. Yet this was only minor compared to the walls of humans on either side of the hole. The sea of voices only stormed louder as Kieren wandered deeper into the event grounds.

Finally, Kieren's gaze shifted back to the course and what was right in front of him: the tee box. The chills of wind and blood returned to him yet again as the image of the statues replayed in his mind. His eyes narrowed; his march softened to a quiet, poised stride. He stared only at the hole ahead, already calculating the route to success and a "starly". He pulled off to the left only a few strides before the tee box, approaching Jackson and Aurelein's bag. Aurelein was already in the box studying the hole over and over again. The crowd quieted as Aurelein backed up and turned to set his feet. He looked up at the fairway before glancing down again. With sudden ferocity, he pulled the full length of his club over his head, switched directions, and blasted the head of the club through empty air at his feet. He repeated the process with three more warmups before stepping up a couple inches aligning the head of his club with his ball perfectly balanced on the tee.

Kieren hardly had a chance to blink before Aurelein's club tore through the ball and sent it flying off into the open sky. With careful sharp eye, Kieren traced the ball's path. The ball suddenly veered towards the left away from the direction of the hole. It bounced off the sloped hole and rolled back down into the valley where it stopped just shy of the longer grass. The crowd clapped in applause. Kieren could see a contempt smile across Aurelein's face. So the fairway was enough for this guy? Kieren could do better!

It was now Kieren's turn, and he knew exactly what he wanted to do. He released his bag from his tail and pulled out the heaviest club from inside. He gently tossed the club up on the tee box and turned back to his bag. The bottom right pouch was where he kept his supply of golf balls, tees, and markers. He pulled out a ball and tee which met his liking, and carried them up to the tee box. The pounding of the crowd returned, but a different set of images crossed his mind. It started with the night he stood on that podium, seeing Celestia's frightened expression as he left the stage alone, away from those who tried to kill him. He saw the friendly machoke sitting on the bench drinking the miracle beverage replenishing the fluids lost from sweat. Then there was Leon and Eddie, lost staring at the map, and again as Eddie ran ahead while Leon explained the world of the city to Kieren. And finally there was Mylan, laughing at himself for believing Kieren was out for him the first night they met. The ball was set in place. His steps were traced, marking the path between him and a solid strike with the ball. There was only one thing left to do: swing. The crowd was dead-silent, curious eyes watching the quadruped's approach to the popularized sport. Kieren relished in the quiet, and stared off into the fairway beyond. But he wasn't staring at the hole ahead, he was staring at his future. He closed his eyes, straightened his club, and loosened his grip.

"Kieren Bluestripe. Welcome to your new life."

Upon finishing those words, he tightened his grip, swung around in a circle, and smashed the ball with perfect precision.

The ball was steering off to the right of the fairway towards the longer grass. It descended, dodging right of a sand pit and bouncing in the long grass. The crowd began to gasp as the ball leaped into the air and tapped the sloped fairway "doglegging" to the right. The ball settled down onto the fairway and softly rolled backwards left towards the sand, but stopped in the small area of flat fairway behind the sand…

…Right where he wanted it.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** **So did you guys like it? Did you catch the clue? If not, it's totally fine. The story will make sense in the end. So it is August, meaning summer is almost over. That means it is time to start pushing event submissions. So name submission or event submission, that's your choice! But the magic number is 3! Normal reviews count for a re-updated chapter of choice (and choice of time), but must be specified. Good luck with the tournament hosting for the few of you who are into that! And for the rest of you, enjoy August! Don't let it escape as fast as it came! ~Dreaming I'm Latios**


	26. 26) Overslept

**Author's Note:**

 ** _Updated Chapters:_**

 ** _Chapter 7 – Changes likely unnoticeable._**

 **Hello everyone! I am back, and a day early this time rather than a week late. Today is a special day, because I reveal that special character I've been taking name suggestions for! For those of you who were kind enough to submit me your name ideas, thank you! Let me know what you think of the name! It certainly isn't a common name by any means, but I feel I would be hard-pressed to find something better for this story!**

 **So about this chapter, I mentioned I was doing something a bit different with it, and while I like the way it has turned out, it has also been one of the hardest to write! It's only seen a couple of iterations compared to the usual five to ten that I've spent on previous chapters, so I apologize in advance if things don't flow quite right. It is also the longest chapter yet!**

 **For the casual reader, this chapter will seem like a lot of nonsense. However, for the more hardcore, this chapter foreshadows a ton of game-changers! So break out your detective notepad, and enjoy this beast of a chapter! I look forward to your predictions and hypothesis in the reviews!**

 **Today is 8/12/2016 and this chapter is 7800+ words.**

 **Update: I made a slight modification of events near the end of this chapter to patch an issue a reader pointed out to me that was also patched in the next chapter. The issue isn't fully resolved, but hopefully it is more tolerable.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon, just dream it.**

* * *

Chapter 26: Overslept

"I'm late! I'm late! I'm late! I'm late! I'm late!" bellowed out the six-tailed fox kicking her tails in full-paced stride. She gasped for air to calm her panicking lungs as she rounded the lake corner and began pressing up the hill Northbound. "I'm late! I'm late! I'm late! I'm late! I'm late! I'm late! I'm late!"

Two red ears twitched at the sudden noise. The owner of those ears was a flareon positioned high on the rocks performing his early morning stretches before the new class of eevee arrived. The flareon followed the noise of panicked nonsense catching sight of a red blur rapidly approaching the shallow canyon below.

"Melody! What happened?" Trent called out towards the maddened creature.

"I'm late! I'm late! I'm late! I'm sorry! I'm late! I overslept! I'm late! I'm late! Have a good day!"

"Huh…" Trent grunted amusedly perplexed, staring off where she disappeared into the forest as quickly as she came.

The morning was promising warmth and calm air, but that was not the concern for the adrenaline-rushed vulpix dodging trees and branches praying none of the obstacles ahead were enough to make her improvised shortcut trivial. How she ever allowed herself to oversleep, well she didn't have time to think about it. There were too many trees in the way and too much work to get done on the site to slow down!

"I'm late! I'm late! I'm late! I'm late! I'm late!" she recited as a makeshift mantra which paced her breath. Normally a breath per kick was terribly inefficient, but it was the only way she could react in time to weave side to side and leap over the stray roots and stumps. The upward slope was also dampening her pace. Her father must be both worried about her and stressed with the workload! She had to get there ASAP! Push! Push! Low hanging branch!

She pulled her head down and flattened her tails just in time to avoid the deep gashes that would have raked upon her skin. She looked up as soon as she felt clear of the dangerous obstacle only to see a yellow blob. She tried to scream out to the creature, but her outburst was out of phase with her exhale, emitting only an awkward gasp for air. She began to close her eyes for impact, but just before her vision left her she caught movement.

She opened her eyes again to realize the creature had successfully slipped out of harm's way at extraordinary speed.

"Tournament?" the jolteon asked.

"Yeah! I'm late! I'm late! Sorry!" Melody repeated without even glancing back to identify the tribe native.

"Can you tell him he has my sincere con…dolences…Shoot! She's already gone!" the jolteon complained as Melody disappeared over the horizon of the open hill. "I'll have to arrange our meeting later. I should go check up on sis. I hope I'm not reading too deep into what I saw yesterday." He turned and departed down the hill, away from where he had come.

Melody was already at her post, fetching her satchel and recalibrating her breath. She was making good time, but she was already supposed to be there, so she couldn't slow down a second. With her only break being the time it took for her to hook the satchel around her neck, she set off again, this time with a more regular breathing pattern. She still had a long way to go!

Her mind began racing as to what all she would have to get done immediately as she arrived. She would have to conceal her exhaustion, or someone might report her. That would be bad for Mr. Clesse. It wouldn't matter how many times she explained it nor the fact she could actually explain it in human speech, people were still going to believe she was the subject of brainwashed abuse. They would chase her down and try to force her into a protection center. It didn't matter if she ran. They all had bicycles and golf carts, like the one coming into her view in front of her.

"Oh no," Melody grunted as she slowed down. Her heartrate, however, was skyrocketing! She did it this time! Everyone must be in a stressful panic!

"Melody! Thank goodness!" cried a familiar eleven year old child, none other than Fia.

"Fia! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Melody sobbed, breaking into tears.

"Melody no!" Fia replied, reaching down and hugging the vulpix tightly. "Melody, can you be strong for just a little bit? We have an emergency right now."

"What?" Melody gasped between chokes of tears.

"A boy ate some keviar cherries out on the course, and he's reacting badly. The doctors are completely out of proper medicine," the girl explained. She gasped in confusion when Melody's eyes blasted open, and hesitated for a second before remembering the next step. "One nurse gave me this sheet with the name of the medicine and a product code." She pulled out a folded up sheet of paper. Melody immediately stood up and snatched it out of her hand before diving back into the forest.

"Meet me by the side entrance just shy of the furret plains!" Melody hollered behind her. She was flying faster now thanks to the downward slope carrying her, allowing her to focus on simply dodging obstacles in her way. She needed to find Taylor, the name becoming her new mantra as she spotted an opening to the outer path. She took a right turn towards it and was freed from forest obstacles. She soon passed the sign she and Trent had made the previous night.

"Melody?" a voice called in the distance.

"Must find Taylor!" Melody grunted in stride as she flew past the calling eevee. But to her surprise, she heard footsteps behind her slowly reaching her until an eevee was running alongside her. She didn't bother to look though. She just kept running. Perhaps this eevee was racing her to wherever for training or something? It didn't matter. She had to get to Taylor! She and the eevee kept running together. Running, running, she wouldn't stop. The good news was as soon as she was done she would get to rest. That would be a relief, but first she needed to get this done. She had the strength and endurance. She just had to keep pushing forward!

"This way!" commanded the eevee next to her, which darted off the path to the left into deeper forest. Melody recognized the voice as Caleb's, and without thinking followed him. She hoped he was actually leading her to Taylor and not trying to take her to something else! She was relieved when they reached a clearing containing a collection of baskets and vases arrayed against the trees.

"Thank heavens he heard me!" Melody thought to herself as the two cut through the clearing.

"He's just up ahead," Caleb pointed out as the two passed by several vaporeon and jolteon who stopped to watch them pass. Around the bend, the vaporeon in question came into view. He started walking to the side to get out of the way, and his eyes blasted open as they adjusted their course back towards him. Fortunately though, the two of them were slowing down.

"Emergency request! Code is six-one-one-five-two!" Melody fired at the vaporeon.

"Epidemic or case?" Taylor inquired.

"Case," Melody exhaled unhesitatingly. She watched as the vaporeon took command of the situation.

"Robbie! Capsule of six-one-one-five-two! A-SAP!"

"Right!" a jolteon answered before quickly taking off. Melody used the time to catch her breath. Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale.

"Thank you," Caleb told the vaporeon.

"No worries," Taylor replied. He waved his tail behind him, watching concernedly at Melody's heavy breathing.

"Thanks…Caleb…for…the…shortcut," Melody huffed between breaths. Her breathing was finally starting to slow.

"No problem," Caleb answered. "I can show you the way back too if you need to."

"I told Fia I would…meet her at the high entrance," Melody informed.

"Right! I know the way there too!" Caleb answered, not bothering to question the name. The jolteon returned, making quick time.

"Six-one-one-five-two?" the jolteon asked.

Taylor simply motioned towards the vulpix, who opened her satchel. The jolteon closed the gap in two leaps and carefully dropped cylindrical capsule into the satchel.

"Thank you!" Melody gestured as she turned and took off with Caleb leading.

"Good luck!" Taylor hollered as the two disappeared into the forest.

Melody and Caleb were back to racing! It was only a matter of distance before Melody could finally rest again. She just had to get to Fia! Hopefully the girl wasn't lost! Ironically, Melody had lost all sense of direction. Caleb was making cuts left and right, weaving around trees and cutting through arched branches and roots, before merging onto another main path. Fortunately, the shortcuts weren't nearly as hazardous as the shortcut she tried earlier. It was as if Caleb memorized the forest! Suddenly, a familiar pattern caught Melody's eyes, she was already on the exit path. Two more bends, and she'd be out of the forest! Caleb was amazing! Her eyes narrowed in determination as she made an effort to align herself horizontally with the eevee. She succeeded, just as the opening came in sight.

"Melody!" cried Fia, causing Melody to break into final sprint! The eevee stopped, turning into the forest out of sight. Melody didn't have time to contemplate Caleb's reaction to Fia's voice. Instead she blinked as sunlight pounded against her eyes. All she could see was the white silhouette of the golf cart and the shadow of the young girl in the driver seat away from the vulpix. The silhouettes came closer, but Melody's vision wasn't adjusting! She was all but blind! Finally, the silhouette was within two strides of her. She leapt blindly for the shadow, closing her eyes and praying!

She felt the cushioned impact she was praying for, as arms guided her ragdoll body onto the girl's lap. She tried to relax her breathing as the sounds of a motor drowned out all other noise. She felt the rush of acceleration as the vehicle took off towards the tournament grounds. Fia was gunning it! They needed to make haste! But for now, Melody could rest.

She closed her eyes, letting herself finally process everything that happened. It was a miracle Fia had the cart! It had saved her a bunch of running. The fact she overslept was no longer an issue. She was ironically fortunate, given the circumstances.

Melody paid no mind to the bumpy ride as the vehicle weaved its way up to the city. For her, the girl's skirt was plenty enough cushion and warmth. Instead, her mind was already refocusing on the day's business. Most likely, she was going to gather some press attention after the boy was treated. It was a major marketing opportunity for the tribe. After that, who knew what would happen! The good news was that today was looking like an action-packed day! There wouldn't be as much sitting around and listening to her father talk this time around. But shoot! She had to find Kieren too, and make sure he was ok! She only had four days to find him while the streets were empty. It probably wasn't good for his morale that the whole city just suddenly cleared out. She wondered if he knew about the tournament.

The cart eased its incline and gained speed as it entered the city grounds, steering off a sharp left towards the golf course. Fia gently placed one of her hands on Melody's neck, rubbing out the tension that had built up over the morning's events. Melody whimpered in guilty pleasure, before turning red when she realized the awkward sound she had made. Humans were just magical sometimes.

"Just relax, we're getting closer," Fia reassured softly, as she softly patted the vulpix's head before placing her hand back on the steering wheel. Melody wondered how much Fia knew about the recent events, especially Kieren's exile. She was still confused herself about it. Even Drake was confused by it. If only Drake could rename OAI; the name was too obviously secretive and uncreative. At least he solved the second issue with the project. A recording system would relay information much more accurately. The problem was, Tara would know. But apparently that issue was already solved, because just as everyone was leaving Kat's cave, Caleb had asked, "So for OAI, what next?"

* * *

"Hey, Trent. Blast from the past?" Kat asked mischievously.

Everyone in the room gave blank stares at her. Only Trent and Drake closed their eyes to try and decode the message. Everyone else just waited for someone to make sense of something. Suddenly, Trent's eyes blasted open.

"Wait, does this have anything to do with training?" Trent yelped.

"What?" Andy choked.

"Just for a day," Kat answered with a smirk.

"Seriously?" Andy and Connor asked excitedly. The two glanced at each other, and back at Kat, flabbergasted.

"What the heck is going on?" Drake interrupted loudly.

"Drake, you know this," Trent relayed.

"I'm confused too," Caleb admitted. "What do I need to do?"

"We won't need you or Melody for this," Trent answered reassuringly.

"FRICKIN' GENIOUS!" Drake thundered, interrupting Melody's confused gasp and silencing everyone for a brief moment.

"This isn't going to spread the curse, is it?" Connor asked cautiously after everyone recovered from Drake's outburst.

"Totally unrelated, actually. No promises, but it might just be a paradise!" Drake answered, still beaming with excitement.

* * *

The conversation had gone off topic from there. Melody still had no idea what the paradise thing was all about, but she trusted Drake was in control. Her concern had to be finding Kieren, making sure he was safe and not starving. She'd have Trent with her Saturday, if she didn't find Kieren by then. Hopefully that didn't interfere with whatever the group was planning. She had totally forgotten to ask Trent about that part last night. Her mind must have been too occupied by the fact that Drake had gotten into a family argument over the whole ordeal. She couldn't even imagine what that would be like. The lapras were incredibly intelligent creatures. Such an argument would require a ton of friction for such an outcome to occur, that Drake had to turn to desperate measures. Melody would admit she felt a little uneasy about the whole ordeal. It certainly wasn't the most ethical approach to the issue. But given what happened to Kieren, ethics could be thrown out the window! Ugh! This tournament was so awkwardly timed! All she wanted to do was go find Kieren, find him a home, find him some new friends, comfort him. She felt terrible she missed the whole event. She could have been right there, ready to take him in the moment everything happened, assuming she would have the composure. Now that she thought about it, she probably wouldn't. She would have absolutely lost her mind! Seriously, why did the tribe have to treat Kieren like crap all the time?

"Melody. Please relax," Fia interrupted, pushing down on the vulpix's stiffened shoulders. "Everything will be alright. I need you to relax and focus on the tournament today. I know you're all worked up, but everything will be alright. Trust me. Relax. We're almost there."

As soon as her tension broke, Melody could feel the human magic suppress the last of her rage. Her limbs collapsed again into peaceful rest in the lap of the young girl. She sighed. She'd have to forget about Kieren for now, or else she wouldn't have a chance to find him later. Today was going to be full of faces, and full of adventures.

* * *

Fruity flavor and tartness filled the umbreon's mouth. It was his first time trying the yellow drink, and it definitely wasn't what he expected.

"Like it?" Aurelein asked.

"It's different," Kieren answered, forgetting the human couldn't understand him.

"A little sour?" Aurelein guessed.

Kieren just shrugged and took another sip, causing the human to laugh lightly. Apparently a kid climbing one of the keviar trees ate some of the cherries and collapsed. Kieren had no idea they were poisonous to humans until Aurelein explained it to him. It was a shame. They had a lot of flavor. Kieren could see off in the distance where the tree stood, but he couldn't see the child, despite the surrounding area being cleared out by staff. Doctors and nurses were kneeling by the boy, blocking the umbreon's view. They were waiting for some treatment medicine to arrive and counter the poison.

"And here I thought these incidents only happened in the nature trail," Aurelein muttered. "I suppose I should appreciate the swamp fairies more…"

Kieren glanced up at the man sitting on the bench, curious as to the creatures he spoke of. Fortunately, Aurelein noticed his curiosity and explained things to him.

"In Laverre, some of the girls go out south to the nature trail's playground to play. But as soon as they notice a passing trainer or group, they abandon the environment and hide in the swamps to play pranks on the passing trainers. Legend has it the children long ago used to do this to protect the existence of what was at the time a controversial creature. Now, they simply do it for fun and tradition. But due to their habits, they always notice when a trainer eats a poisonous fruit and alert the rangers. Hey, looks like they got something!"

Kieren looked up to see a mini-super-transporter driven by a young girl with a vulpix on her lap. That vulpix was definitely Melody, but Kieren didn't recognize the human girl. He watched closely as Melody jumped down and opened her satchel, exposing it to one of the nurses by the boy. The nurse reached in, and pulled out some object too small to see which she handed to one of the other nurses. Melody and the girl stood by at the scene until one of the doctors gave them a thumbs-up and waved them off. Kieren followed his gaze as the two got back in the mini-super-transporter and took off across the fairway in front of them over to the right and into the crowd, where large cheering erupted.

"You know the vulpix?" Aurelein asked.

Kieren nodded.

"Is she the daughter of that talking ninetails or something?"

Kieren nodded again.

"I see…" Aurelein answered slowly. "You like her?"

Kieren stood at him blankly, the only way he knew to answer without words. Melody was a good friend. Nothing less, nothing more. It was surprising this was the first time he saw her since his exile. He wasn't sure if he was ready to talk to her. How would he tell her his plans of leaving, possibly forever?

Another round of applause broke out. Apparently the boy was standing and slowly walking towards another super-transporter, where they departed. Once the crowd settled, a voice blasted through the sound system.

"Special thanks to the nurses and staff for all their hard work! Now, we ask you turn your attention to the tee box where we have Aurelein Cindevelli, from Laverre City."

"That's you, man," Kieren told the human next to him, as they both arose and refocused on the game at hand.

* * *

"…We just want to make sure everyone is safe, healthy, and having a good time," Melody stated assuringly.

"Well we were all impressed with your heroic actions today," the reporter complemented. "So are you going to get some rest now? You look a little red."

"It's certainly an exhilarating way to start your day," she answered with a chuckle. "But actually it's looking to be a pretty exciting day today. Plenty of faces to see, food to eat, and some great golfing to watch under this beautiful weather we have today."

"You heard it from the vulpix!" And our golfers are warming up and jumping right back into the game. I'm Sharon from Sky 9 news bringing you back to the action!"

"Well done!" shouted one of the crew members as Sharon itched Melody behind the ear before standing up.

"Oversleep?" the tall golden ninetails asked her.

"A little bit…" Melody answered sheepishly.

"How long did it take for you to find her?" her father asked Fia.

"She was just outside the forest when I arrived," Fia answered, picking up the vulpix and bestowing human hand magic in the form of a neck scratching.

"Oh, well that worked out then," Mason answered, turning back to his daughter. "So onto regular business, I need you to report to Mr. Clesse that the issue is resolved."

"I already texted him," Fia interrupted. "He sent out the ok to resume the tournament before the interview."

"Well in that case, why don't you pick up a global information packet and take it to a guy by the name of Darren Brownson in the east boxes of seventeen," the ninetails suggested. "Hopefully by then Mom will have the R-T marketing materials ready for the print shop. Run those over to Shel and then go see if you can find Clyde at the bank and get him over. Apparently there's been some buzz on the billboard ads and Mitch thinks Clyde-Face will be hot for souvenirs."

"Is Clyde that psyduck on those Naturus billboards?" Fia asked.

"Yep," Melody answered, looking up at the human holding her.

"Well I'll let you go," Fia told Melody as she set the fire type down. "Thanks so much you two! Our family really appreciates all you do for these events."

"Thanks for putting up with me this morning," Melody answered.

"I do want to know about that later," Fia teased.

"If I have time," Melody responded while dashing off.

"What happened?" Melody could hear her father ask from behind her.

"Oh, she was a nervous wreck this morning," Fia answered.

"She hasn't slept very well lately," her Father told the girl.

"Really? I'm surprised she didn't volunteer as…"

"Sorry!" Melody excused herself as she nearly bumped into a quilava standing upright. The quilava remained totally oblivious to her as he stood cheering next to his trainer and the other girls watching the event.

* * *

People were everywhere on the course. What had been an open and calm location the last few days had become more packed than downtown on Friday night. Melody slowly navigated around the outside of the crowd, trying not to get trampled by the wave of walkers following their favorite golfers. The crowd came in all different colors and styles. Some were young adults in t-shirts, shorts, and baseball caps. Others were older wearing golf shirts or other polos with different colors, patterns, and logos. There were also visible farmers in the crowd, wearing tattered jeans and white t-shirts with mud stains. Some of them wore overalls, while others dressed like tourists with the exception of their straw hats. As she rounded the last bend, she could hear the name "Aurelein" being chanted. She turned to see a group dressed with uniquely different styles compared to rest of the crowd. The men all wore floral-patterned polos and khaki shorts, some of them wearing a flat cap or a derby. The women wore either a floral dress or a kimono. Some of the young girls wore a pink dress with greenish-brown stains tainting the frills.

Melody took a turn to the right to find a large white tent acting as an information center for the event. She dashed inside and made her way to the "staff-only doorway".

"Hi Melody!" a voice greeted opening the door for the vulpix.

"Hi Jessica!" Melody greeted the blond-haired lady. "Thanks."

Melody walked inside, quickly locating the table with piles of brochures for all the different advertisers.

"Which one's you need?" a male voice asked, surprising the fire type.

"Uh, the Valley's global," Melody answered turning to spot Ben Kistle, one of the movie theater staff.

"Here you go," he answered, stuffing several pamphlets into her satchel.

"Thanks!" Melody answered, heading back out as Ben held the door for her.

Melody was back out on her quest, trying to remember which way was the route to the seventeenth hole with so many people distorting her sense of location recognition. This year she could finally appreciate what the people were excited about, but that still didn't make it easier for her to get around, especially with their biggest crowd yet. Finally, she found her way to the edge of the course, and as she walked along the outside of the road, the noise of the crowd all but faded. There were significantly less people watching the first golfers. By the time she reached the seventeenth hole, she realized that none of the golfers had even gotten to that point yet. However, the boxes were full as usual with people in business suits or fancy dresses along with their overly groomed Pokemon. They were all chatting away, awaiting the first set of golfers to reach the infamous par five.

"Hey! Look! It's that talking vulpix that saved that boy's life!" one of the men shouted to their buddy. Melody approached them, hoping the follow-up could give her some insight as to who Darren was. "Hey Vulpix, Darren here had some questions for ya if you don't mind."

"Darren Brownson?" Melody asked.

"Why yes!" A man sitting next to the shouter wearing a black fedora answered. His expression was of slight shock, while his loud buddy simply laughed.

"Told ya they'd send someone," he commented. "Care if I dig?"

"Go right ahead," Melody answered, allowing the man to reach into her satchel and find the pamphlets. He handed them to Darren.

"Darren owns a children's hospital in Sinnoh. They see a lot of unique cases every day, and can't get proper medicine fast enough."

"Most companies either sell in bulk, or sell at a premium for custom orders with delays, and we need a lot of variety very quickly so we can get children out the doors," Darren explained. "Poor children don't always get treatment because their families can't afford to keep them in care until the medicine arrives."

Melody was almost in tears at the man's confessions. "That's so sad," she told him.

"So what makes you different?" Darren questioned, catching the vulpix off guard.

"Well, we're not factory oriented. We use natural processes instead. It's hard to explain, but the variety of the personalities within our tribe lead to a great variety of different products which we sort and package dynamically to order. Most of our long-distance clients keep a variety inventory for special cases and order to replenish as needed."

"Interesting…" Darren replied. That's a hard commitment to make, though if it works, it is certainly worthwhile."

"They have a website right here," his friend pointed out on the pamphlet. He then showed him his phone. "It's pretty professional too."

"If you can fill an order basket with what your hospital currently needs and take it to the local PC, we can get it processed within a day and send it back with you."

"Wait, are you saying you're fully inventoried with over sixty-five thousand different products?" Darren asked.

"Our output can be kinda random sometimes, so that's a necessity," Melody explained.

"Interesting. I don't see anything on dedicated priority shipping. If you've got that fast of tournaround…" Darren trailed off.

"It's less efficient cost-wise, especially since our main clients have some sort of networking for epidemic treatment distribution anyways, so the inventory system works better. However, we do accept priority retrieval, and integrate exceptionally well with their authentication systems. It is a solution for emergencies."

"And how do you manage that?" Darren asked suspiciously, nose in the pamphlet.

"Dude! Did you forget you're talking to a vulpix?" Darren's associate asked him, prompting Darren to facepalm. The associate turned back to Melody. "Thanks, Vulpix. You don't need to let Darren waste your time anymore."

"It was a pleasure meeting you," Melody replied, before setting off.

* * *

Back outside, the area was still empty, with the exception of a few wandering children clearly disinterested in the main event. More specifically, a group of boys skipping fallen cherries into the nearby pond had caught sight of a group of frosty girls, and were secretly starting to follow them. Melody couldn't blame the boys; frosties were a very different group of people. They wore a cream-like fluff on their heads, some just on their faces, some just in their hair, and some both. The fluff was a natural substance produced by a fruit nicknamed "splatterfruit" due to the way it spat out said substance when opened before exposing the nutritious core. Frosties weren't too common in Eon city, but Melody had heard rumors that they could be found everywhere in the southeast of the region where the crop was grown. Since the kids were all headed in the general direction Melody was headed, she decided to move in closer to the boys and listen in on their discussions, as she didn't recognize them as being from any part of the region.

"So did they lose a bet or something?" one boy asked.

"Do girls even make bets?" another challenged.

"Maybe it's some kind of cheer outfit," a third suggested.

"But it's not uniform, and why would anyone choose THAT as their costume?" a fourth argued. "Literally they could have dressed as anything else and gotten the same effect!"

"Maybe they're some kind of performing group," a fifth guessed.

"What if they're vampires covering up their blood stains?" a sixth joked.

"Hey! Look! There's a vulpix!"

Melody flinched at the outburst as some of the boys turned their attention to her.

"I wonder if it can speak like those ninetails we saw earlier!" a boy with sandy brown hair which was long enough to cover his forehead and ears exclaimed.

"Hey Vulpix! Can you speak?" a boy with short spiky hair next to him called out.

"Yeah," Melody answered softly so that they could only barely hear her.

"Did she say 'yeah?'" the spiky haired kid asked.

"It almost sounded like that, didn't it?" answered his friend.

"Come on! Let's go find out!" a third with glasses shouted.

It wasn't that Melody was being timid or nervous, but she had learned the best way to introduce her ability without causing people to shit themselves was to be really quiet at first.

"Hi Vulpix! My name is Jackson," the spiky haired boy introduced as the group approached her. "The guy in glasses is Jacob, and the other guy is Jeremy."

"Can you tell us your name?" Jacob asked, kneeling down.

"Melody," Melody mumbled.

"It definitely said something," Jeremy commented while kneeling down, Jackson doing the same.

"Can you repeat that?" Jacob asked.

"Melody," Melody repeated a little louder.

"Melody?" Jackson asked.

"Uh huh," Melody answered quietly.

"Are we scaring you?" Jacob asked.

"Mm mmm," Melody answered, shaking her head no.

"So why do you talk so quietly?" Jackson asked.

"Reasons," Melody answered, slightly louder, earning a smile from the boys.

"I like your bag," Jackson commented.

"Thanks," Melody replied.

"What do you use it for?" Jacob asked.

"Whatever really," Melody.

"Like?" Jackson beckoned.

"Notes, pamphlets, mail, snacks, whatever fits really," Melody answered, now at normal speaking volume.

"You're talking louder now," Jacob commented.

"Hey, can you tell us about those girls?" Jackson interrupted.

Melody giggled. "I noticed you were following them."

"Well yeah," Jackson admitted. "They're weird-looking. You can't even see half their faces."

"They're frosties," Melody explained. "They're wearing the content of a fruit that grows in the southeast. I rarely see them outside of these annual tournaments."

"So you don't know why they're wearing that stuff?" Jacob asked.

"Nope, but other than that, they've seemed pretty normal to me when I've talked to them in the past," Melody answered. "Go talk to them!"

Jeremy ran off, possibly to spread her advice to the others. The three watched him from a distance as he started stirring up discussions with the other boys and occasionally pointed at Melody.

"So where are you from again?" Melody asked.

"The two of us are from Ecruteak. The others are either from Goldenrod or Saffron," Jacob explained.

"Wait, isn't Saffron in Kanto?" Melody asked.

"Yep! They ride the rail to school in Goldenrod. It's safer after the Eden Hostage incident."

"Hey! They're going!" Jackson shouted, bringing their attention back to the rest of the boys now slowly approaching the group of frosties.

"Hey! What are you doing?" One of the boys hollered out to the girls.

"Everyone! Scatter!" One of the frosties shouted in response, prompting the girls to dash off in different directions giggling madly.

"I thought you said they were otherwise normal," Jackson casually pressed the vulpix.

"They're also girls," Melody answered giggling. "It's a game! Go chase them! Hurry!" She nudged Jackson with her nose to emphasize her point. He quickly picked up on her cue, and ran off to the others with Jacob in pursuit.

Melody dashed off as well, laughing as the boys struggled to keep sight of the frosties ducking behind trees and popping out from hills and tall grass. Suddenly she felt something grip her from underneath and lift her off the ground.

"Come on! They're starting the back nine soon!" the voice spoke to the bewildered vulpix.

"Huh?" Melody asked.

"There's popcorn in the exec post! And you're mom is almost done!" the voice called back. Melody was still a little confused what Fia was talking about, much less why she was way over on seventeen in the first place. But popcorn sounded amazing! Fia was surprisingly quick, and apparently really high on energy. Melody lifted her head up to watch as the world flew by her. It was exhilarating, the wind breathing against her eyelashes. The noise of the crowd began to flood her ears again as Fia dashed passed a large wall of people. The exec box suddenly came into view, as Fia started making side-to-side maneuvers to avoid running into people. Melody felt an arm give way, nearly causing her to fall as Fia opened the door and ran inside. Melody could see her mother out of the corner of her eye, but Fia was heading straight to the popcorn machine.

"How much you want?" Fia asked, already scooping both buckets full.

"I think that's good," Melody giggled.

Fia set Melody down on a nearby table before lifting out the buckets and handing one to the vulpix. Immediately afterwards, she was out the door and out of sight, a few spilled pieces of popcorn in tow.

Melody giggled as she grabbed her popcorn and made her way over to her mother.

"Having fun?" her mother asked.

"Perhaps," Melody teased while shoving her first shot of popcorn into her mouth.

"How does this look?" the ninetails asked, holding up an electronic tablet. Melody leaned in closer, mouth still full of popcorn, until she was able to see the picture displayed. It was a portrait of the Clesses, with Fia holding Melody while Zach was holding an eevee. Behind them was a mob of vaporeon, jolteon, and flareon in a forest setting. Melody knew this was the work of digital magic, but it was a convincing image to anyone unfamiliar with the inner workings of the business.

"Looks good!" Melody answered after swallowing. "Where's the text?"

"I'm still working on that," her mother replied. "Stencil or Times?"

"Make it glowing," Melody suggested, grabbing more popcorn.

"Ooh! Good idea!" Her mother responded. "I know exactly what I want to do!"

Melody stayed and ate popcorn while her mother slowly assembled the missing text for the advertisement. There was a globe in the middle, with curved text above it reading "Empowering". Another set of curved text underneath read "The World's", and underneath in big letters read "HEROES". With several more edits, the world darkened while the letters began to glow. The lighting was tweaked further until the whole logo and text began to "pop out" of the image in a natural way.

"How's that?" the ninetails asked, moving her head to the side.

"Definitely!" Melody answered, reaching for more popcorn.

"Here's another one I made," her mother told her as she flipped over to another digital work.

Melody laughed at the image. It was a portrait of her behind a doctor holding an empty capsule. The text read, "Always Prepared – Even if You're Not!"

"Alright!" her mother began while slipping out a thumb drive from her driving tower, "Can you take this over to the print shop? All the order specs are on the drive."

* * *

Still licking her lips of butter, Melody was already back on the streets far away from the crowd. The main roads were chillingly empty. Now was her chance to keep an eye open for Kieren as she made her journey! She called out his name in human-proof speech, hoping he would suddenly emerge from the shadows of the alleys or from behind one of the dumpsters. He never did. Melody took a turn to the left down another road, passing the Pokemon Center. It was closed, likely because Nurse Joy had a station set up on the course. But that also meant that no one was in care in the Pokemon Center, meaning no Kieren. Melody continued, hoping, praying that her friend would return to her as she continued to call his name. Her eyes started playing tricks on her as she began seeing movements in the shadows. Realizing how paranoid she was becoming, she stopped looking and resorted to only calling his name, exhausting her butter-filled throat in the process. Just as she could barely scream anymore, she found herself in front of the print shop.

"Order is on the drive," she announced raspedly, throwing her satchel on the counter shortly after entering.

"Oh my gosh, Melody! You sound terrible!" a large, blonde, and normally overly cheery woman gasped in horror. "Please, make yourself some tea over there while I load this up!" she instructed, pointing at a water dispenser with tea packets on the adjacent table.

Melody obliged. A few minutes later, she was feeling better. She watched the office TV which was broadcasting the tournament. Apparently, the pokemon entrant was tearing through the competition, though she never bothered to catch its name nor species. Thinking of a pokemon golfing reminded her too much of Kieren.

"Alright! Everything's processed. It'll be about half an hour or so," the woman told Melody.

"Thank you, Shel," Melody answered, standing up.

"You sound much better," Shel complemented. "Try not to push yourself now," she insisted as Melody left the shop with a thankful nod.

Melody was torn between panicking to find Kieren and preserving herself for the work she had yet to do. She resorted to humming the tunes she'd often hear play in the shops at Eon Park Square, hoping that it would help her relax while providing some sort of noise for Kieren to recognize if he was around. She had no idea if his new form had as sensitive of ears, but she could only hope.

The sound of rushing water alerted her she was nearing the splash park. She kept her distance, instead forcing her gaze on the construction site. She had heard the site design was changed half way through construction, so the company had to rely on outside help to get things done half the time. Fortunately though, they seemed to have off for the big event. After the gym, the road cut through several practice battlefields before degrading into a narrow grotto path outlined by a small forest archway. A sign above the archway read, "To Eon Park Square – Pokemon Only". Two other signposts on either side provided more practical information detailing the shops available, as well as some FAQs. A short quick beep sounded from the right as Melody passed through, alerting her the security system was well and working. It usually was.

At the other end of the passageway Melody was greeted to loud heavy music and a lot of commotion. They were making last-minute preparations for the weekend festival, hanging up banners and changing the light bulbs in the street lamps with higher-powered variants. Melody recognized several of the machoke and machamp as the same from the construction site, friendly and helpful as always. A couple of alakazam and malamar were discussing with a dusknoir regarding what would likely be the spook-coaster. They redesigned it every year to keep things fresh. The other thrill attractions were either having the last few pieces assembled or under inspections.

"Clyde! You're a star!" Melody greeted the psyduck reaching along the bank roof from a ladder.

"Huh?" Clyde asked, glancing back over his shoulder with an astonished expression across his face.

"You're a big buzz in the town right now! Do you want to come do some modelling and maybe greet some fans?" Melody asked excitedly.

"Oooh! Our little Clyde's becoming a supermodel," a nearby roselia commented while untangling streamers.

"How lovely!" a bellossom added.

"Have you seen the signs?" Melody asked. "He looks super legit!" Clyde glanced back at the work he was doing, hiding his slightly reddened face.

"Perhaps when I'm done with this," he answered, to which the two grass types immediately gasped.

"Oh my gosh, Clyde!" the roselia snapped. "Go! Kass and I got this! Just Go!" Clyde turned to the bellossom, slightly astonished by the outburst.

"Take lots of selfies," she quipped. Clyde shook his head, descending the ladder as the three females giggled.

Clyde walked up to Melody, trying to keep a straight face, but turned in concern when he heard the roselia climbing the ladder. Melody could see him fidgeting when the roselia continued to climb up on the roof, streamers wrapped around one of her flowery arms and trailing down to the bellossom.

"What! You never seen a roselia on a roof before?" the roselia teased back at Clyde.

"Emira's always on the roof," Melody commented. "Come on. We going?"

"Uhhh… yeah," Clyde answered, turning around and scurrying to catch up with vulpix. The two continued walking in silence until they exited the grotto entranceway. "What did you mean when you said Emira's always on the roof?" Clyde broke the silence pressingly.

"I always see her and her trainer Violet out on the roof at night watching the stars," Melody explained. "It's their thing, I guess."

"Huh…" Clyde stuttered. "Never would have guessed." They continued a little farther in silence, passing back through the empty battle field and park.

"I have to make a stop at the print shop," Melody told him, pointing her head at the store on the right.

"Cool!" Clyde answered. Before Melody could turn, he was already waddling over to the splash park. She paid no mind as she turned and entered the print shop for the second time that day.

"Oh! Melody!" Shel exclaimed. "The last batch just finished! How's your throat! Do you need more tea?"

"I'm fine," Melody answered. "Thank you for the offer. Is there anything I can take with me right now? I'll send someone to get the rest."

"Hmmm," Shel thought. "We could maybe fit a couple banners in your bag, but I'm not sure if we want these folded over. They are usually roll…"

"Hello! Oh! Melody! Hi! Are the prints done?" a young girl's voice interrupted.

"Just finished," Melody stumbled a bit surprised.

"Perfect!" Fia exclaimed. "I got the cart. Do you mind helping me load up? I'm a bit in a hurry!"

"Sure," Melody answered without thinking.

"I can help too," Shel stated upbeat. "This way!"

The three of them moved quickly to relocate the long rolled-up banners to the back of the golf cart, only taking the time to exchange vital information about the task at hand. Before Melody knew it, Fia was already strapping in the consignments.

"Melody, did you find that psyduck?" Fia asked.

"I did. He's at the splash park," Melody answered, turning towards the perceived abomination. "Clyde! We got a ride to the event!"

"Coming!" Clyde shouted back. He quickly splashed his way over, unintentionally intimidating the vulpix into a backpedal. Fia scooped Melody up in her arms as she turned and got in the vehicle.

"Hop in Clyde!" Fia gestured, patting the seat next to her while keeping Melody as far left as possible. Clyde obligued, familiar with human transportation.

"The name's Fia by the way," Fia introduced as she stepped the cart into motion.

"How was the water," Melody asked.

"Good! I'm all squeaky clean now," Clyde proclaimed. "How's your umbreon friend doing?"

"Kieren?" Melody choked, "I still haven't found him yet…" She glanced down at the Fia's feet, letting her gaze slowly fade.

"Isn't he c…?" Clyde began, but he was cut off by Fia.

"It's best we don't talk about it, Clyde. Melody, relax. You're all tensed up again."

"Sorry," Melody apologized. "I've been a bit worked up about it all as of late." She finicked about in Fia's lap so as to allow herself to loosen up.

"That's quite alright. I don't think I really understand the issue anyways," Clyde pronounced slowly.

"Only Melody understands it," Fia commented. "But if you want to watch with me, they're waiting for the group to finish up on the thirteenth."

"Wait, what?" Melody questioned. She glanced over to the psyduck, whose face was stiff and slightly pale. She turned back and glanced up at Fia, who was staring straight forward and biting her lips. "What just happened?" she asked, her mind unable to process the bizarre series of events under the stressful thoughts of her still not finding Kieren. Her mind was spinning. Competing what? What does that have to do with the golfers at the thirteenth? What group is Fia talking about? Wasn't she referring to the golfers in general? The questions kept pouring in and jumbling together into a dizzying nonsense. Her mind was spinning…

Spinning…

Spinning…

"I feel like I'm going to throw up…" Melody moaned.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK! MELODY! NO!" Fia shrieked. The cart began swerving as hands grabbed the vulpix and reoriented her about. Melody closed her eyes as sight of pavement passed in front of her. Seconds seemed like minutes of jumbled chaos, despite the only external stimuli being the sound of the cart's motor grappling Fia's heavy foot on the pedal. Eventually, the vehicle began to slow down. As soon as it stopped, Melody could feel herself being lifted by Fia's arms.

"Help! Your daughter said she feels like puking!" Fia pleaded.

"Oh! Baby girl!" a voice responded in deep concern. The next thing Melody knew, she was riding on the back of a furry creature. "Just hold on! You'll be alright," her mother tried to reassure her as they cut through the course and headed towards a side building out of the way. The ninetails rushed in and located a quiet dark room, where she laid Melody down. Not a minute had passed before she returned with blankets and cushions, tucking the vulpix in and telling her to rest.

Melody didn't need to be told twice, as her throbbing head wanted nothing more than sleep. As soon as her mother's footsteps disappeared, her consciousness slowly drifted away.

She only woke up once to snack on crackers and sip soda under her mother's care, and slept through her entire trip home that night.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** **So was my effort worth it? Is your head spinning like Melody's? So I've got some news for you! This is your last chance for a bonus chapter this summer! I know some of you probably feel cheated on the missing weeks of chapters and heightened requirements for bonus chapters, but get this: With this chapter, I have uploaded more words this summer than last summer, AN excluded. Now that I got this chapter out of the way, I am going to try to lower the requirements back down again. Notice I said "try" because it is totally possible I won't have time to keep up and get the next chapters out. So do me a favor, help me out and post your reviews, criticism, favorite parts, favorite characters, favorite quotes, predictions, and/or event submissions! Also next week's chapter will be the last this summer. See you then! ~Dreaming I'm Latios**


	27. 27) Too Many Secrets

**Author's Note:**

 **It's the summer finale guys!**

 **Sorry it took so long! This is exactly why I only upload in the summer! The school year is just too unpredictable. I wasn't expecting the back to school party with all my game dev buddies that ultimately kept me from updating this on time. Not that that was a bad thing. Since then, I was alerted of a major flaw in my story, especially in the previous chapter. I've gone back and modified a scene near the end of the chapter to help resolve that issue, and any information lost in that process I added back in this chapter. Of course this is only the band-aid before surgery.**

* * *

 **Deerhunter: Welcome! I'm glad you enjoy it! However, Melody does know that Kieren is an Umbreon, but she doesn't know what an Umbreon is. This was back in chapter 24 if you want to check.**

 **AveragePichu: You know you screwed up when a plot based on a true story gets called "unrealistic". But seriously, thank you for pointing out this flaw! What I was originally going for with Melody being directly told and not catching on would have been explained by some background I now realize I never actually added to the story. Whoops! However, I came up with a better way to handle that scene which I like more and fits better with this chapter.**

 **This is exactly why I have the bonus chapter policies that I have. As a writer, I sometimes forget what I have and have not established in my story, and as such have no way to know by myself if I am actually telling the story correctly. That is why I treat ramblings of your favorite characters and moments as criticism, and why I value your attempts at predicting future events. They let me get a glimpse of the reader's thought processes and catch potential issues. That's also why submissions are important. Even though the main plot is laid out, how I get from point to point is only worked out a few chapters ahead of what I've written. So I use submissions as a way to force myself to check if I have everything established correctly. Event submissions will be really helpful for the upcoming chapters, so please send those in!**

 **Anyways, my point is that I now realize I'm missing a lot of Melody's background, as well as a bunch of body language details that would help explain the characters' mental states. This goes back quite a few chapters, so I'll be revising many of them. However, I'll still be applying my update policy to those revised chapters (if you don't know how that works, I will review it down below). I'll for sure be updating Chapter 26 on the site before I upload Chapter 28, but the rest are up to you! Some well-spaced event submissions are a solid option!**

* * *

 **I actually rewrote much of this chapter. I prefer the new direction, but it is still missing a lot of details. That's saying something for a 5k+ chapter! Anyways, season recap is at the end of the chapter. Enjoy!**

 **Today is 9/7/2016 and this chapter is 5000+ words.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon, just dream it.**

* * *

Chapter 27: Too Many Secrets

"Yeah. I must say I was indeed quite frightened."

"How'd you find out?"

"Well, at first she interrupted me, telling me not to talk about it. But then she mentioned something about being tense, so I figured it was just good intuition."

"That makes sense. Violet always does that to me. They start to pick up on those things a lot younger than we do."

"Yes. Yes they do. However, I then made a comment about how it didn't matter since I didn't really understand the situation anyways. But then, not only did she respond directly to my statement, but she even went on to answer the question I was about to ask before she had cut me off."

"What did she say?"

"I don't remember exactly. I was a bit in shock."

The conversation was cryptic to the umbreon. He had only begun listening because he thought he heard his name mentioned, but now he wasn't sure what to make of it. His mind was still full of letters, the actual names of sounds that made words, and the secret origin of all nonsensical abbreviations. Not having the necessary brain energy to decipher the dialogue, he let it fade into the depths of his dreams when sleep took hold of him.

* * *

The sun's first rays had crossed over the horizon, and immediately began pounding on Kieren's hotel windows, hoping the umbreon would open up. Fortunately for them, the umbreon did not need much convincing as he stirred out of bed with a catchy tune already flowing through his waking consciousness. He grabbed hold of the chain by the windows and yanked the curtains apart. The sun rays delightedly infiltrated the room, raiding every corner and greedily consuming all the darkness they could find. Kieren basked in their presence as he resumed his morning routine of relieving himself, rinsing out his fur, wrapping up in the towels, and catching the weather.

"With my two little darlings and a third on the way, I don't have time to jump through bank loopholes just to keep my money for baby food and diapers. But then I found Naturus. They make baking simple, straightforward, and hassle free, so I can focus on being Mom. Even better, they're totally pokemon friendly, so now my luxray can do our grocery shopping worry-free! He's a huge help, though I kinda feel bad for making him run my errands."

"Waaaaaaaaaaa!"

"Naturus. Safe, natural, banking."

"Sky 9 News is brought to you by, Pebbits. See the world, taste the world. And by Naturus. Safe, natural, banking."

"Welcome back to Sky 9 news. I'm Sharon Kapenski. It's Friday! Yay! That probably doesn't mean much anyway with the tournament going on. We've got lots of news on that, along with reports of a veteran thief making rounds near the Eon Metro area. More on that later, but first, here's your morning forecast. Turning it over to you Todd."

"Thanks Sharon. You mentioned the Eon Invitational Tournament that is on its second day today. If you wanted to see the tournament this weekend, I recommend you get out there now. Right now the temperature is sixty-seven in the city with partly cloudy skies, similar to what we had yesterday. However, at two o'clock, that all starts to change. A wave of warm air from the southwest is expected to move in between two o'clock and six o'clock with temperatures jumping from seventy-five to eighty-four degrees and one hundred percent humidity. Kinda makes you wish the splat park construction was finished. You can see the temperatures for the area all somewhere between eighty and eighty-six degrees this afternoon, and as we move into the night, those high temperatures are going to linger around, with mid to high seventies as your lows. You may want to consider keeping the air conditioning on through the night rather than opening the windows. Tomorrow early morning will be hot and sticky, with a dew point of sixty-eight. However, that all quickly changes as we have some cold air coming in from the northeast. That cold air is going to cool all the hot humid air, and of course that means rain is your Saturday morning forecast, beginning around eight-thirty. Some of that rain might even develop into severe thunderstorms in the later afternoon. And if you look at the temperatures, you'll notice we're back down into the sixties. That's going to all clear up Saturday night, and Sunday we'll be seeing low to mid-seventies and blue skies for the final round of the invitational. Right now it is sixty-five in Sprint County. Sixty-four on the lake front. Sixty-eight in Tyron and Carnary, and sixty-six in Eon City. I'm Todd Anderwisch with your forecast from Sky 9 News. Back to you Sharon."

"Thanks Todd. I'm Sharon Wakenski, and with me is Mike Grael. Todd mentioned the splat park that is currently under construction. However, the city is planning on setting up some oceansplat obstacle courses on the downtown streets this afternoon. It'll be a fun way to get a little taste of the region's culture while staying cool."

"I presume they're just using the thin stuff, right?"

"They're actually having both."

"Really! What is the benefit of having the thicker stuff? Is it just to please the hard-core in the region? I assumed they would just stick to the thin stuff to make it tourist friendly."

"There is a benefit to the thicker stuff in that it stays cool about five or six times longer. However, I still wouldn't recommend it if it's your first time, as it can be a bit overwhelming. But if you can get used to it, it's nice because then you can stay cool for several straight hours of shopping."

"Interesting. I always thought it would get warmer quicker since it's heavier."

"No. No. It can absorb a lot more heat, and at a more comfortable rate too."

"Wow. I might have to tell my daughter that one and see what she does. She's not normally a fan except for when it gets really hot and humid, then she's all for it."

"Is that Emily?"

"Yes. Amy's a little too timid yet."

"Really? Isn't Amy your little spitfire?"

"Usually."

"Just not with splatterfruit?"

"Nope. She covers up her mouth like this and shies away."

"Cute! Anyways, I suppose we should get started with our main news story for today. It is the second day of the tournament, and this year's been really special with the first pokemon participating!"

"His name is Kieren Bluestripe, and not only is he the first pokemon to enter a CSG Major, but he's in the lead! He started the day with a clever tee off, skipping the ball through the longer grass and onto the fairway behind the sand trap. He birdied that hole starting him at one under. Then on the fifth, he had this second shot from the fairway. It bounces off the fairway and… off the flagpole! Later he made this twenty-two foot put on the eighth. He was caught off guard on the thirteenth when his ball skipped past the hole into the sand, but he had this amazing recovery, after which he tapped it in to save par. He nearly hit a hole-in-one on the sixteenth. Then on the seventeenth, he caught this amazing bounce off the root and all…the…way…down the hill! On his second shot he came just shy of the green, but on his third shot, he hits it to the right of the hole, but it goes left… going left… going left… and it's in the hole! You can see him celebrating, jumping around and tossing his club in the air. He certainly had a reason to celebrate, earning an eagle on that hole and putting him at six under for the day."

"He's very fun to watch! I'm always left wondering what goes through his head. You know the other thing I noticed that's different about him is that he doesn't take very long to play his ball. You know most golfers spend some time taking practice swings trying to get things right before they actually hit the ball. But the umbreon just goes right up and hits it."

"I know. It baffles me how he is able to spin with such precision the way he does. One thing that is worth noting is that despite leading the tournament, Kieren and his playing partner Aurelein Cindevelli play several groups in front of the other bigger names on the leaderboard to help spread out the crowd. Aurelein is minus three as well, only three strokes behind Kieren."

"Best of luck to all the golfers participating."

"And best of luck to everyone who will be fighting the heat this afternoon."

"Our next story is a follow-up on a teenage boy who collapsed out on the course yesterday after consuming keviar cherries. Thanks to the Eon Valley…pft"

Kieren was back to humming his catchy tune as he tossed the towels aside, grabbed his bag, and set out for another adventure. His mind was fascinated by what he had just seen. He was on the black box thing! He wasn't sure what to make of that, whether he should have enjoyed seeing himself (a brand new experience) or felt awkward about seeing how he acted. But ultimately, the clips were too short for him to make a proper judgement. The crew that made that compilation deserved a lot of credit though. They captured yesterday's highlights quite well! Regardless, Kieren was hyped! Yesterday had been a total blast, and he was confident today would go just as well!

The elevator beeped, signaling it had arrived on the cafeteria floor. Kieren quickly located the breakfast buffet and put together his favorite breakfast combo. Carefully balancing his tray on top of his head, he scanned the seats for a familiar ninetails. His gaze caught his target across the room in a secluded corner. He approached the reddish yellow creature only to immediately notice the deep bags underneath the creature's eyes.

"Morning Kieren," the ninetails greeted in a tired, monotone voice.

"Morning Mason," Kieren responded, lowering his breakfast down on the table. "May I dare ask what happened? You look and sound exhausted!"

"Just a puking child yesterday," Mason confessed with a slump of his head. "Nothing you should be concerned about. Thank you anyways."

"Yuck," Kieren sympathized. "You have my best wishes."

"Again, don't concern yourself with it. I must go now. You remember the route to get to the course?" Mason asked.

"I believe so," Kieren answered, nodding his head. Mason nodded back, before slowly getting up and lethargically walking away, tails drooped noticeably lower than usual, almost parallel with the floor. Kieren watched in slight astonishment at the normally tall and proud ninetails being so reserved and worn down. He hoped it was just a one-day thing. Fortunately, his thoughts were interrupted the moment he noticed the catchy tune he had stuck in his head all morning was playing over the speakers. He hummed along merrily by himself as he consumed his meal.

* * *

Across the city streets, down a grass hill, and inside a lake forest clearing, two flareon were leading a group of eevee in warmup stretch exercises. Their hind legs were outstretched, as their front paws were crossed, while their heads reached against the flow of their body. Breaking the glistening water of the morning sun was a lapras, chanting along to the stretch count and occasionally shooting a small, non-destructive dose of water gun at any of the eevee slacking off. A large pile of white fruity fluff separated the group of eevee and flareon from the overhanging cliff, under which, another eevee was emerging. She picked up a small stone and skipped it at the lapras, catching his attention. She signaled back behind her with her head, before returning back into the cave.

"Trent?" Drake called for attention.

"Yes?" Trent answered between counts.

"I need to go talk with someone quickly. I'll be back in a little bit."

"That's fine," Trent whispered back, having moved closer to the water. "It'll be a little bit yet before we get to the games." Drake nodded and withdrew under the water's surface.

It only took the counts seven, eight, and nine for Trent to deduce Kat had returned. Kat had left in the hopes of catching Melody before the vulpix ran off to the city for the big event that was going on. Oddly, Melody never returned that night to discuss what she had found out. It was very unusual of her to forget a meeting. Then again, she had been in an absolute panic yesterday morning. According to Caleb, it had something to do with a human passing out and the city hospitals running out of medicine based on emergency report that came in later that day from Melody's father. That didn't really match up with what he had heard Melody screaming yesterday morning, but Caleb swore he had helped her get the emergency request in.

"One! Two! Three! Four…" the eevee began chanting again based on a new stretch Trent had subconsciously executed. It was muscle memory for him at this point, as it was for many of the recently evolved. He resumed focus on the new class, taking charge of the next stretch and leading the count.

After several more stretches, the group migrated to warm-up activities, which involved "snaking" and "teeter-tottering" to name a couple. Group by group, the eevee crossed the grassy beach with hops, skips, spins, and summersaults. However, since this was the youngest group of developing eevee, they struggled. But slowly and surely, Trent and Andy finally got them through the stretches and basic warmups. However, that didn't mean they were at the end of things. Next up was the infamous lake run. Circling the lake three times was something Trent and Andy could do in ten minutes casually, but it would take the young eevee over an hour. Trent was explaining the task to the naïve eevee when he was interrupted by a lapras from the lake.

"Trent! When you have a moment, I need to speak with you in private!" Drake yelled, his tone nothing but seriousness.

"Ummm…"Trent stalled. "Shoot!"

"Don't worry, Trent! I gotcha covered!" a jolteon shouted.

"Solano?" Trent asked, astonished.

"Heck yeah! You didn't think I'd miss the big return, did you?" the jolteon referenced enthusiastically.

"Wait, you know who it is, right?" Trent quizzed.

"Of course! I found out years before all of you!"

"Ok. Cool. I appreciate it," Trent answered. He turned around hesitantly, still uncertain whether he was making the right choice, before seeing the nod of the lapras. He leaped up onto Drake's back, making very sure he didn't overshoot into the lake. He took his time to steady himself before Drake departed into the middle of the lake. "So what's up?" he asked the lapras quietly.

"It's Melody," Drake answered.

"Melody?"

"She suffered a panic attack yesterday and made herself sick," Drake explained. "She's been taking Kieren's exile extra hard."

"That's not good," Trent worried.

"She's not allowed to leave the reserve today, and it is suggested we don't talk about him, even if she brings it up."

"Wait! So she's in the reserve? Like right now?" Trent asked alarmed.

"She hasn't woken up yet. That's why I'm telling you this now."

"I see…" Trent trailed in thought. "And so what should we do?"

"Simply reassure her we have a plan, but first priority is OASIS. She doesn't know about that, right?"

"She'll have all the clues as soon as she hears the name, but I doubt she'll catch on immediately."

"You think so?" Drake asked uncertain.

"We never discussed that part that night. She was too wrapped up with you being involved to begin with. She might not even remember it all."

"Interesting…" Drake mused.

"Do we know anything about Kieren?" Trent asked.

"We know he's been spotted occasionally crossing through Eon Park Square according to Melody," Drake suggested. "However, there's a twist to this story, and everything I'm about to say remains top secret!"

"Oh?" Trent staggered slightly.

"According to her parents, Melody has full knowledge of Kieren's whereabouts. When she says she can't find him, it's likely a cover for whatever she is hiding."

"Wait, seriously?" Trent asked, shocked.

"That's what they told Kat. They think whatever she is hiding is causing her panic spells."

"So they don't know what she is hiding?"

"No. Otherwise they wouldn't have told Kat anything. They specifically asked that the four of us, Caleb being the fourth, to keep an eye out for any clues. But we have to pretend we were never told any of this. All we know is that she suffered a panic spell and has to stay in the valley for the day."

"Right," Trent acknowledged. He took a moment to mull things over, gazing across the shoreline around the lake. "Hey you there!" he shouted, breaking the quiet of the lake. "Do I see you slacking? Get moving, or you'll still be running while we all do the fun stuff!" Drake laughed as Trent sat back down again.

"So you said you don't think Melody will know anything about OASIS?" Drake asked.

"I don't think so, though after that revelation I'm more uncertain," Trent admitted.

"Sure. Though now that I think about it, it doesn't affect the plan much anyways…" Drake rambled.

"Which is?" Trent beckoned.

"Give Melody the same OASIS story as we're giving the rest of the tribe. If she knows, fine. If she gets tense, blame it on a panic attack and rush her out."

"And if she has no clue and starts wondering what happened to everything else?" Trent inquired.

"We tell her OAI is dead if she brings up that name, but also that we have a plan. And then we use OASIS's story to distract her into the games."

"I see..." Trent murmured. "It's a lot to remember, but I think I can manage."

"Sure. Just remember to be extra cheery and into the games!" Drake responded. "Speaking of which, want to go chase those slackers?"

"Heck yeah!" Trent bellowed, triggering the lapras into high gear as they neared the shore, threatening any slacking eevee with a drenching wave.

* * *

Kieren had only two goals: entertain the crowd, and beat Aurelein as badly as possible. Like many of the other golfers, Aurelein received his fair share of jokes about losing to a pokemon. But Aurelein was not afraid to throw the jokes back at Kieren, and this started a friendly banter war. Neither of them minded. It was pushing their games to their limits, while simultaneously further entertaining the crowd. They were on the sixth hole, and Aurelein was only a stroke behind Kieren for the round, despite Kieren being a stroke ahead of yesterday's performance up to the current hole.

Currently, he was balancing a lemonade bottle on his head, waiting for Aurelein to finish his myriad of practice swings. Occasionally, he'd flip the bottle and catch it upright on his forehead, earning an applause from the crowd.

"Oh, they'll be clapping when you hit the ball into the sand," Aurelein sneered.

"Assuming you hit the ball today," Kieren retorted back. He began counting the seconds with his tail as a metronome, allowing the crowd to catch onto his jest.

"Hey! You can't rush perfection!" Aurelein countered. "You watching this shot?"

To Kieren's surprise, Aurelein was actually getting ready to hit the ball! That was record time for the slowking! Aurelein adjusted his footing, glanced down the fairway from the tee box, and locked himself in place. He lifted his club over his back shoulder, and then with a sudden aggression, blasted the club through the ball. The ball rocketed straight down the left branch of the fairway and stopped perfectly lined up towards the hole. Aurelein flipped his club in the air before catching it by the handle, mocking one of Kieren's newly developed antics.

"See? Perfection!" Aurelein taunted. Kieren simply rolled his eyes as he picked out a tee and ball from his bag and grabbed the heaviest club he could find. He set himself up and with no more than zero practice swings, swung his club in a circle, and fired the ball into the horizon. Unlike Aurelein's, his hooked right onto the right branch of the fairway where the angle to the flag was less appealing. At least that's what Aurelein was likely thinking, as Aurelein started boasting about perfection. Kieren answered with the evilest of grins he could muster, which was pretty dang evil in his opinion. He spent the next fifteen minutes playing games with the crowd and stamping his paw on some weird pieces of paper children would bring to him. The green was very narrow, aligned straight with the left branch of the fairway. A sand trap sat right behind the green. Yesterday Aurelein just barely missed the fairway, and his second shot went right of the green. Kieren knew exactly what Aurelein was going to do today.

Aurelein didn't take long to hit the ball. He lifted it high into the air, letting the ball soar towards the flag, before dropping ten feet in front of it. However, on impact, the ball caught the forward downslope of the green and gained significant forward momentum, flying past the flag and into the sand. It was exactly as Kieren predicted, and he nearly fell over laughing.

"You can laugh after your shot," Aurelein quipped.

Aurelein didn't have to wait long. Kieren pulled out one of his heavier clubs from his bag and stared down past the green. He spun his club in a circle and made contact with his ball. The ball soared with furious velocity, sailing past the flag to the left of the sand, where it made contact with a sloped cliff. It ricocheted back towards the green, bouncing once in the tall grass before landing and rolling back fifteen feet in front of the hole on the green. Aurelein just stared at the umbreon, who flipped his club in the air, balanced the handle on his tail, then flipped it back.

"Luck," Aurelein muttered. Kieren simply ignored him, instead advancing towards the green in the hopes of sinking what would be a tricky fifteen foot putt. Of course he wouldn't attempt that put until after he'd taunt Aurelein by pretend-burying the professional's ball with more sand.

* * *

"Alright crew! I would like to introduce you to this giant pile of white behind me!" Trent addressed the eevee who were all lined up in front of him. Some were still exhausted from the run, and others were giggling over the previous round's challenge which involved dodging Drake's small water gun blasts into the air. "We call this mess behind me 'The Blob'!"

"The challenge is simple," Solano continued. "Cross through, and you win."

"But there's a catch," Trent added. "Who here's heard of the Blob Monster?"

"There's no such thing as a blob monster!" a young female eevee shouted back. "Watch me!" She closed her eyes, and marched into the pillar of white. But before her tail even disappeared, she was swept off her feet and pulled inside. Two seconds later, she exploded out from the top of the pillar and drifted towards the lake where she collapsed with a pity splash. Drake dove under the water, and seconds later emerged with the soaked eevee laying on his head. "I was wrong," she confessed disappointedly, earning laughs from the evolved pokemon and gasps of shock from the class of young eevee.

"There are two things you need to know about the Blob Monster," Solano began. "First, she is a she, and second, she likes throwing eevee into the lake."

"Anyone who makes it through is safe for the next two rounds of the competition!" Trent announced. "Who's next?"

One by one, the eevee slowly lined up, and eventually mustered up the courage to challenge the Blob Monster. The first couple eevee tried charging head-on, but were quickly tossed into the lake. A couple eevee tried jumping into 'the Blob', but ended up in the lake as well.

"Everyone, be quiet!" the next eevee in line announced, earning the silence he hoped for. "One! Two!" Before he shouted out 'three', he jumped in.

Three seconds later, a splash was heard in the lake.

"Good try," Solano complemented, internally laughing at the innocent attempt of deception.

"What is going on?" a female voice emerged from the forest.

"Melody?" Trent recognized. "Good morning!"

"Seriously, what is going on here? First I hear someone counting, and then all of a sudden I see an eevee flying out of a pile of splatterfruit into the lake!" Drake, Andy, Trent, and Solano all chuckled at her statement.

"It's a training game," Trent explained. "Today's game day. Wanna help?"

"We're trying to get past the Blob Monster!" an eevee exclaimed. Silence ensued as Trent awaited the vulpix's answer.

"I can't!" Melody cried just before breaking into tears, immediately prompting Trent to come to her aid. "I can't find him!" she wept. "I can't find him anywhere!"

"Melody. Please. Relax," Trent coaxed. "We heard about your panic attack yesterday. You need to take a break and let it go."

"…Fine," Melody conceded, stifling the tears. She picked up her head and opened her eyes back to world. "Drake! Is she there?" Melody asked, motioning towards the cliff.

"Kat?" Drake guessed.

"Yeah."

"Nope."

"Shoot! Do you know where she is then?" Melody asked, walking towards the lake with Trent by her side.

"Yeah! She hiding!"

"Hiding?"

"Yep!"

"From what?"

"Us!"

"Wait why?"

"For fun."

"Kat doesn't just do things 'for fun'!" Melody ranted. "Why is she hiding?"

"Fine…" Drake gave in. "It's for Project OASIS."

"Oasis?"

"Yeah. It's what we're doing right now."

"Right now?"

"Yep."

"As in right here, right now?"

"Correct."

"With this blob monster thing whatever you call it?"

"Exactly!"

"Ugh!" Melody groaned.

"What's wrong?" Trent asked concernedly.

"What's wrong? There's too many secrets!" Melody roared. "Seriously! Everyone keeps hiding stuff from me, and then expects me to know what they're talking about! I'm so confused right now I can't even keep my head screwed on straight!"

"Melody, we're not trying to hide anything from you," Trent lyingly persuaded the fire type. "One at a time, what don't you understand?"

"…Alright," Melody exhaled, trying to calm herself and clear her mind of emotions. "…First…who is this Blob Monster that keeps throwing the eevee out of this giant blob of spatterfruit?" Melody asked after witnessing another eevee tossed into the lake. The older pokemon simply laughed again.

"Alright," Drake began. "Do you remember the waterfall from two days ago?"

Melody nodded.

"So the Blob Monster was there."

"Ok?" Melody slurred confusingly.

"The Blob Monster is a she, and she is the she you know better."

Melody recited the clues in her head again, silently naming off everyone who had been there in Kat's hideout that day. Suddenly, it hit her how obvious it was!

"Blast from the past?" she recited.

"Yes! That's exactly it!" Drake confirmed excitedly.

"Ok," she beamed. "And that paradise thing you were talking about?"

"OASIS," Drake clarified.

"What's oasis?" an eevee asked.

"An oasis is a paradise in a desert," Solano answered slowly.

"What's a paradise?" the eevee asked again.

"A very magical place of happiness and awesomeness," Solano answered again. Trent laughed as the juvenile eevee's eyes opened wide in awe.

"So what's Project OASIS?" Melody asked. "I get that's what you're doing, but what's the significance?"

"It's to celebrate our generation and the childhood we shared, even as we've taken our separate paths and may continue to do so," Solano answered, much to everyone's surprise. "It's also our way of making life for the next generation even better."

"He's right," Trent reassured Melody after she glanced back at him with uncertainty.

"…Oh," Melody breathed.

"Any more secrets?" Drake asked.

"The one I was looking for?" Melody hinted.

"No news yet," Trent answered. "Just try not to think about him."

"If what you told us about the locals in Eon Park Square is true, then he's doing alright," Drake added. "No need to worry."

"Thanks Drake," Melody sighed. She took several slow breaths, contemplating what other secrets the group could possibly answer. "The rest of the secrets are city things," she finally admitted.

"Is it just the people working for the tournament?" Solano asked.

"Umm… I think so?" Melody answered. "Why?"

"It helps me sympathize," Solano answered. "Trust me. I've been through my fair share of parental secrets. I'm sure we all have. It's frustrating and confusing!"

"Oh…" Melody stuttered, surprised by Solano's accuracy despite the limited information he had. "Thanks," she offered again, not knowing what else to say.

"Wow." Drake mouthed almost silently. An awkward silence followed, as everyone contemplated the truth Solano spoke with. It took an eevee to break the silence.

"Miss Vulpix?"

"Yes?" Melody responded, quickly looking up only to have to look down again at the cute brown-eyed eevee staring up at her.

"Who were you looking for?" the eevee girl asked bluntly.

Melody frowned. She had no idea how to answer the question without giving a taboo answer.

"She was looking for Kieren," Solano answered for her, catching everyone by surprise. The older pokemon stared at him in shock by what he revealed, while the younger eevee were all whispering rumors.

"Is Kieren the one who was exiled because he was cursed," another eevee asked loud enough for Solano to hear.

"I don't believe in curses!" Solano shouted over all the eevee. "Kieren was exiled for other reasons! I need to go run an errand. You all should get back to the games. It's almost lunch time, and no one's beaten Miss Blob Monster yet!" The jolteon left abruptly after finishing, leaving the older pokemon dazed and the horde of eevee amped.

"Well that's another secret," Melody snorted.

"Leave that to Trent and I to crack!" Drake offered merrily, slapping his right fin as close to his stomach as his joint could reach.

"In the meantime," Trent added, "do you want to help us run these games now? It's a great way to let loose and not worry about everything else."

Melody paused for a second. She took a deep breath, inhaling, exhaling, and finally allowed her face to light up in a warm fiery grin.

"Sure."

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **And it is that time when I officially announce the end of new chapters for several months. That doesn't mean I won't be writing. I still have a lot of work to do!**

* * *

 **Here's some stats for this summer! These numbers are awesome!**

 **Chapters: 10**

 **Words: 35,000+**

 **Average words per chapter: 3,500+**

 **Total words: 62,000+**

 **Total average words per chapter: 2,300+**

 **Reviews: 21**

 **Total reviews: 42**

 **Followers: 14**

 **Total followers: 28**

 **Favorites: 9**

 **Total favorites: 15**

 **Bonus chapters: 1**

 **Total bonus chapters: 6**

* * *

 **Anyways, my off-season policies are simple (and greatly improved over last year). Provide feedback in the form of criticism, predictions, or submissions, and I will re-upload a chapter of your choice. You can even choose whether I upload it as soon as I have time, or wait until May just before the summer uploads. Heck, you can even request it for Christmas Break if you want!**

 **For submissions, I'm still accepting event submissions. All you have to do is name some kind of event or issue that crops up somewhere in the story. You can name the location, and even create your own OCs and backstories if you want (no guarantees I'll use them). Only two rules. The first rule is that you can't base the event or issue on how a main character interacts with someone or something. For example, Melody can't get in a fight with an aipom, but Melody can meet an aipom, and that aipom can be fighting with a mankey. The second rule is that you can't determine the outcome. That's my job! You can find more examples on my profile page with a suggested format.**

 **Worst comes to worst, I can throw out whatever doesn't work and fill in any missing details, so if the rules confuse you, then don't worry about them and just submit something!**

* * *

 **Also, every Christmas Break, I update my other story - Eon Undercover Hacked Archives: The Visions. It's the back story behind Moon on the Water, and provides some foreshadowing for the story much further from now.**

* * *

 **And lastly, have an awesome school year (or normal work year if you are beyond your school days)! Feel free to ask me any questions story or otherwise, and definitely give me some feedback so I can keep improving this fic! Thanks for an awesome summer! Until next time!**

 **~Dreaming I'm Latios**


End file.
